F1 reacts to loss of Turkish Grand Prix

F1 News
Date: 29/July/2011

The 2012 F1 calendar looks set to remain at 20 events after teams were unofficially informed that the Turkish Grand Prix has been removed from the schedule.

With the US Grand Prix returning for 2012 and the teams' contracted for no more than 20 events, it was a case of where the axe would fall.

Despite action-packed races and a challenging layout, Turkey's Istanbul Park circuit was always the prime candidate for removal, although rumours had suggested that Spain may be restricted to one rather than two rounds in future.

"It’s always sad when we lose a grand prix from the calendar," said McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale. "We’ve enjoyed racing there very much, but there are a limited number of [events] and the sport has to move forwards. We are sorry to see Turkey go."

Virgin Racing's Graeme Lowdon insisted that the 20-race limit had to stand.

"The calendar has 20 races next year and - speaking for one of the smaller teams – 21 would have been too many and so the reality is that there had to be some give somewhere," he said.

Legendary F1 designer Adrian Newey, whose Red Bull cars are first and second in the 2011 world championship with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, is concerned that an ever-higher proportion of temporary street circuits are appearing on the calendar.

"It’s a shame, Turkey is a good circuit, a circuit that was enjoyable from a car perspective, the drivers’ perspective," began the Englishman. "I think the key thing is that we don’t go too far down the temporary tracks route, that Formula One as an industry supports the permanent tracks.

"I gather there’s a danger that Barcelona could be lost relative to Valencia, and I think that would be a tragedy, to end up going to a temporary Valencia rather than a permanent Barcelona."

Street circuits tend to have lower average speeds - and far fewer fast corners - than purpose-built race tracks. With that in mind, Newey was asked if the loss of Istanbul Park would be taken into consideration when choosing the attributes for Red Bull's 2012 car.

"Not really, because it’s an incremental change so yes, if you consider the changes in the calendar perhaps over a five or ten year period, the general trend towards slower circuits then that would change your car, but losing one race on its own doesn’t change the overall philosophy of the car," Newey replied.

The Turkish Grand Prix joined the F1 calendar in 2005 and, despite the fine racing, has never been able to attract enough fans to fill the grandstands. The Istanbul Park track also hosted a motorcycle grand prix from 2005-2007.