No plan to cancel F1 races, says FIA
( 2001-09-13 10:00 ) (7 )

Formula One's ruling body plans to go ahead with the season's three remaining races despite Tuesday's terror attacks in New York and Washington.

"There is no plan to cancel the future grands prix," International Automobile Federation (FIA) spokeswoman Agnes Kaiser told Reuters on Wednesday.

She was speaking at Monza where final preparations were being, made for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix.

The FIA would not add to the carefully-worded phrase, which did not say definitively that the races -- one of them the US Grand Prix at Indianapolis in two weeks' time -- would go ahead.

Nor did it appear to rule out any possible rescheduling. The final race is set for Suzuka in Japan on October 14.

But Indianapolis officials in the US said on Wednesday their plans were unchanged and the cars, which travel on privately owned aircraft, should arrive early in the week of the race itself.

The Italian Grand Prix had been the subject of speculation about whether or not it would go ahead following the postponement earlier in the day of European soccer matches.

An editorial on the front page of Wednesday's Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper criticised UEFA for not cancelling matches on Tuesday night but did not mention the grand prix.

SUCCESSFUL DEFENCE

The Monza meeting was expected to form a weekend-long celebration of Michael Schumacher's successful defence of the world drivers' championship -- in a car built by Italian manufacturer Ferrari.

Schumacher and team mate Rubens Barrichello have also helped Ferrari secure their third successive constructors crown.

But Ferrari, whose largest market is the US, has cancelled a media party that was planned for Saturday night.

Although Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo believes the race itself should go ahead, he said on Wednesday it would be treated with dignity.

"My position is that Monza is a race, it is a sports event, life has to go on," he told reporters at the Ferrari factory at Maranello.

"But for sure this sports event will be far different from our expectations.

NORMAL RACE

"Of course we will try to do our best everywhere. We cannot say to the people 'do not go to Monza', but we can say that Ferrari will approach Monza not as a party, not as a happy event but as a normal race -- one organised in Italy."

Some 60,000 grandstand seats have been sold for the race and, in total, around 150,000 spectators are expected at the track.

Montezemolo, who went to university in New York City, added: "Life has to go on, we are very close and I personally am very close to the United States. I admire that country and its democracy.

"The best thing to do is go on and to do what we have to do every day in the best way."

New York has a considerable Italian-American population, from the mayor down, and many Italians have family ties with the United States.

Formula One teams waited for FIA president Max Mosley to return to Europe from a visit to Peru and continued to plan as normal, assuming the race would be on unless told otherwise.

Technicians worked on setting up the paddock at Monza on Wednesday and mechanics and other team personnel flew in as scheduled.

However, Schumacher called off a planned charity soccer match he had been due to play on Thursday night.