The F1 Grand Prix has found its new home and will be in Turkiye, Istanbul for approximately five years, starting in 2027.
The news has been dismissed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the statement comes just after he sat down with F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali as well as Mohammed Ben Sulayem, president of the sport’s governing body, the FIA.
The main cruise will start from Galataport and end at the Presidential Office in Dolmabahçe.
According to the President, “The return of the Turkish Grand Prix to the Formula 1 calendar is a triumph of Turkiye’s passion and belief in the sport. The Formula 1 races to be held at Istanbul Park for at least five years will support Istanbul’s leading position in the world and demonstrate to the world that our country is the safe haven of its region.”
It is worth mentioning about the Asian side of Istanbul that is often quite popular on the circuit, but the last opportunity for the country to host the event was in 2021, and that was as a stand-in due to the raging COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Al Jazeera, the country had held the event in previous years. They went back from 2005 to 2011 and 2020, but after that year found it difficult to secure the multimillion-dollar budget needed to secure the deal, and ultimately had to move to Qatar. That is until Can Bilim Egitim Kurumlari AS Party, a company owned by Lel Cander, chairman of the Turkish branch of F1 tire provider Pirelli, managed to acquire the rights to operate the Istanbul Park Circuit for a period of 30 years for $117.8 million.
