F1 boss rejects drug scare claims

(13-Oct-98) - Claims that F1 could be plunged into a drug scandal have been
dismissed by FIA chief Max Mosley.

Following allegations that the vast majority of Grand Prix drivers use
Creatine, a legal amino acid, Mosley insisted that performance-enhancing
drugs are not a major issue in F1.

Creatine supposedly helps athletes train harder and for longer and is
widely used in football and athletics, despite no concrete medical evidence
that it has a beneficial effect. It is not on the Olympic list of banned
substances (which The FIA copies) and so according to Mosley is
"unobjectionable."

The International Olympic Committee is due to discuss the issue of Creatine
next month, but sources say there is no indication that it will be added to
the list.

Mosley said that the FIA takes the issue of performance-enhancing drugs
very seriously, but that there is no indication that banned drugs are used
in F1.

"We usually have two random tests a year," he said, "and bar
once they have never shown anything untoward."

That one instance occurred at the 1995 European Grand Prix, when traces of
the banned substance ephedrine were found in samples given by Rubens
Barrichello and Massimiliano Papis. Both had taken over-the-counter flu
medicines and no action was taken.

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