London ? Formula One instituted a series of rules changes to make the sport more competitive, including barring teams from telling their drivers to finish in a certain order.

Formula One teams rejected radical proposals for weight handicapping and switching drivers, and approved qualifying and scoring changes.

The rule forbidding teams from determining the finish of their drivers resulted from Ferrari instructing Rubens Barrichello to let five-time champion Michael Schumacher pass him to win the Austrian Grand Prix earlier this year, and Barrichello winning the U.S. Grand Prix when Schumacher slowed down in a bid for a dead-heat finish.

The FIA Formula One Commission turned down a proposal that would have added weight to the fastest car, and a plan to have drivers switch teams for the first 10 races.

“What we have to do is walk a fine line between not doing enough, and on the other side, doing too much,” FIA president Max Mosley said. “On balance, it seems that what we are doing is likely to produce a significant change, and it would have been a mistake to do too much in one go.”

F1 officials decided changes were needed after Ferrari won 15 of 17 races last season, with Schumacher winning a record 11 events. Ferrari’s dominant performance resulted in a drop in TV ratings and questions from sponsors.

The commission approved changes for qualifying, testing, points and tires.

Mosley and F1 president Bernie Ecclestone were the main proponents of the team-swapping and weight handicapping. But they said the changes that were approved should make the sport more exciting.

Marlin must wear brace

two additional weeks

Charlotte, N.C. Sterling Marlin’s bid at an early return from a fractured vertebra in his neck ended Monday when doctors recommended he not get back in the No. 40 Dodge until next racing season.

Marlin, who has missed four races since he was injured last month in a wreck at Kansas Speedway, had hoped to return to racing Nov. 10 in Phoenix.

Although doctors found Monday that Marlin was healing as expected, they said he needed to continue wearing a neck brace for another two weeks and should not get back in the car until testing for the 2003 season begins in January.

Dr. Dom Coric, a spinal cord specialist, said tests showed the vertebra was healing and Marlin is on target to make a full recovery.

Belgian Grand Prix

dropped from slate

London The Belgian Grand Prix was dropped from the Formula One racing schedule on Monday afternoon because of a ban on tobacco advertising.

“In the absence of unanimous agreement by the teams to run at the 2003 Belgian Grand Prix without tobacco advertising, this event has been removed from the World Championship calendar,” the FIA Formula One Commission said in a statement.

The Belgian government wants to introduce a national ban on tobacco advertising in August 2003, a month before the race was scheduled.

A European ban goes into effect in 2006.

The cancelation of the Belgian GP leaves 16 races on the F1 calendar next year.