The Nurburgring will host the Grand Prix of Luxembourg until 2001. This was agreed by the organizers and Bernie Ecclestone. There were some talks about Nurburgring loosing the Grands Prix because of Ecclestone's desire to expend to Asia.

Walter Kafitz, head of the Nurburgring company said: "We must stop Formula One from going to the Far East and replacing the Nurburgring."

He also added: "The deal still has to be signed by ADAC."

Mika Hakkinen returned to the hospital which staff saved his live after the accident he suffered in training for the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide in 1995. The medical staff prevented serious brain damage because of intensive surgery. Hakkinen was there to open a 1.6 million dollar helicopter platform.

Hakkinen commented: "It means a lot to me to come back here today. Obviously, I can't remember all the people who were involved in my recovery, I wasn't feeling very well at the time. But I know I am a very lucky person to be here today. I will carry it with me for the rest of my life. Not that I have nightmares or anything like that, but it changed me so much for the positive. Something like that certainly opens your eyes and maybe I don't take so many risks in the car anymore."

The first witnesses were called in the Senna case. The Italian prosecutor is trying to prove his case that the fatal accident, on May 1 1994, was caused by a badly welded steering rod and bad circuit tar-mack.

Mario Casoni was one of the witnesses called. He drove one of the emergency vehicles to the scene of the the accident. Casoni had noticed the 'abnormal' state the steering rod was in, which was dangling from the cockpit.

Another witness was Stefano Stefanini, head of the accident unit of the Bologna police. He said a metal plate had been added to the rear suspension and had cracked long before the race.

The prosecutor Passarini said: "I called him not because I want to show that the rear suspension caused the accident, but to show that the cars are highly sophisticated, and yet when there's a problem, it gets solved with a metal plate."

Passarini did try to clear Senna's tyres as the cause with showing the lap times the Brazilian did before the crash. Why Passarini did this was not clear.

There was also some amateur footage of Senna talking to a track official during a private practice session about the Tamburello corner. Although it became clear that no officials had been questioned about this.

Traffic police superintendent Marcello Gentili stated that there were intermittent signs of Senna braking.

partially provided by Carlos Lefebre Franco from the Netherlands

Frank Williams has apologized to Heinz-Harald Frentzen after his retirement during the Grand Prix of Australia because of a failing brake disk.

"Team-chef Frank Williams has apolegized immediately to me for the technical defect, he said I had done a good job."