Sports Letters: And now for an unwanted break

Sir: Yet again ITV has proved how inept it is at broadcasting Formula 1. At the very moment Michael Schumacher lost the championship due to a puncture, ITV managed to miss the event because they were "on a break." As they returned to the race we were greeted with pictures of Mika Hakkinen sitting in the pits while Martin Brundle excitedly told us that we were looking at the new world champion. What an enormous let- down for the millions of fans who had stayed up all night for this very moment: the climax of the entire F1 season, and ITV blew it.

Other broadcasters have found imaginative ways of showing advertisements; Italy, for instance, has developed the five-second ad. If Bernie Ecclestone can find a way through the tobacco advertising laws, surely it is not beyond ITV to get manoeuvre through the IBA's rules.

STEPHEN ALLAN

Bath