The sound of Formula 1

THE snow-capped Styrian mountains will provide an apt backdrop this weekend for an Austrian Grand Prix that is being frozen out of the Formula One World Championship.

If the race can make one claim to fame, it is being the most scenic on the calendar. So perfect is the picture-postcard setting that you half expect Julie Andrews and the Von Trapp family to come waltzing down the hills any minute.

But those hills will be alive to the sound of grand prix cars for the final time, with the sport’s ringmaster, Bernie Ecclestone, having already told organisers they will not be on the schedule in 2004.