The Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel cruised to his third victory of the season, winning the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul ahead of his teammate Mark Webber. Vettel, the defending Formula One champion, was never in trouble after starting from the pole for the fourth consecutive race. He won by a comfortable 8.8 seconds.
Vettel, who won the opening two races and was second to Lewis Hamilton of McLaren in China last month, leads Hamilton by 34 points and Webber by 38.
via Vettel Takes Third Win Of Season in Istanbul – NYTimes.com.
Ecclestone moves to Istanbul to distance himself from F1 sale rumours
From ANI
London, May 8: Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One’s commercial rights holder, flew to Istanbul to distance himself from a possible sale of motor sport’s blue-riband series to Rupert Murdoch’s media group, News Corporation.
Ecclestone has earlier denied rumours that Formula One will be sold to News Corp, and said that Murdoch will not buy F1.
“Actually Murdoch is trying to buy the rest of their shares in Sky and they have been doing that for three years so they have got plenty of practice in doing things and not succeeding,” The Guardian quoted Ecclestone, as saying.
“Nothing has changed. It is normal foreplay before these things happen,” he added.
Eleven members of Fota, the Formula One Teams’ Association will meet to discuss the implications of the recent interest shown by News Corporation and Exor, owners of Fiat and Ferrari.
The meeting will be followed later by other four biggest players in the paddock – Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes.
The Fota chairman Martin Whitmarsh said the teams need to work together.
“We have got to work with the commercial rights holder and the governing body to ensure we make this sport interesting as a piece of global entertainment and not spend our energies fighting each other,” said Whitmarsh.
Heading into the Turkish Grand Prix this weekend, Formula One teams and their personnel have been referring to the race as a return to Europe after the first three races were in Australia and Asia. Although Istanbul, the majestic city outside of which the race takes place, has a foot in both Asia and Europe, the racetrack itself is technically in Asia.
Associated Press The Bosporus Strait, which links Europe with Asia, in Istanbul, Turkey.
Associated Press – The Bosporus Strait, which links Europe with Asia, in Istanbul, Turkey.
In fact, it is not the easiest race for spectators to attend. Traveling to and from the circuit from the city at rush hour may mean long traffic jams across the Bosporus bridges — or taking a car ferry — that can make the trip last more than two hours. But for those who enjoy mixing tourism and races, few Grand Prix venues equal the stop in Istanbul.
“Istanbul is one of the most interesting cities in the world and the track itself has some of the best facilities on the calendar,” said Colin Kolles, director of the Hispania team.
Turkey has a growing importance in the car-manufacturing industry. Many carmakers — and the Pirelli tire company, which provides tires to the teams — have factories in the country. According to a recent industry report, “the automotive sector has become the country’s leading exporter, with total exports of $16.9 billion in 2009, which constituted 17.4 percent of Turkey’s total export revenues.”
Moreover, car sales are booming along with the Turkish economy. According to a recent article in the New York Times, “Stockbrokers endure four-month waiting lists to pay as much as $150,000 for top-of-the-line Audis and BMWs — or twice the manufacturer’s price after taxes.”
But the motor-racing culture in Turkey is small, and the Formula One track was the first major road racing track in the country. It was designed by the Formula One track architect of choice, Hermann Tilke, and inaugurated in August 2005 with the first Turkish Grand Prix. Unlike many of the other Tilke tracks, this one receives near universal praise from the drivers. It has just about everything: rolling hills, winding corners — one of which is the longest in the series — and flat-out straights. The combination has made several drivers compare it with the track that is the traditional favorite, Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.
“Turn 8 is one of the most challenging corners of the year,” Nico Rosberg, a driver at the Mercedes team, said of the long corner. “It’s taken at full throttle for over eight seconds, with forces of up to 5G. If I had to create a fantasy Formula One circuit, this corner would definitely be included.”
Unfortunately, however, the race in Turkey has been one of the least attended on the calendar. Not only is there little racing culture, but ticket prices are prohibitively expensive for the average Turk.
The price of tickets along the straight is half an average monthly salary.
“I love Formula One,” said a longtime fan who lives in Istanbul. “But I have never been to the race just because I cannot afford to buy a ticket.”
If the race is full of contrasts, it is a measure of the city itself. Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, and with a population of 13 million, it is the second-most-populous city proper in the world. It is the cultural, economic and financial center of Turkey and has been a crossroads of Asia and Europe for millenniums.
First known as Byzantium, Istanbul has undergone changes of empire and culture, from being the capital of the Roman Empire (when it was known as Constantinople) to that of the Byzantine Empire, the Latin Empire and the Ottoman Empire. Traces of all these periods are visible in the buildings, walls and ruins spread over the hills of the city. Istanbul ceased to be the capital of Turkey in 1923, when Ankara became the capital city of the new Republic of Turkey.
Istanbul remains a center of cultural life and dining, and its great boulevards and shopping districts, like Istiklal Street and the Grand Bazaar and Blue Mosque, have more than enough attractions to fill the time that spectators spend away from the track on a race weekend.
via Paddock Postcard – Istanbul, a City at Continental Crossroads – NYTimes.com.
Felipe Massa says he’s hoping that this weekend he can regain the sort of form that won him three Turkish GPs in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
The Brazilian, who has led Fernando Alonso after the start in all three races this year, adds that his recent 30th birthday could be a good omen.
“I have to say that Istanbul is a very special place for me,” he said on the Ferrari website. “As it was here in 2006 that I took my first ever F1 victory, which is something no driver can ever forget. I remember it as an incredible win from pole position and also I recall the fact I finished ahead of Michael and Fernando, who were fighting for the championship that year, which all added to making it a great achievement.
“And after that, I made it a hat-trick, winning for the next two years, when I was definitely the fastest man on track. In fact, apart from the three wins from three poles, since I am in Ferrari I have always finished in the points at Istanbul Park, but I hope the Turkish wins won’t stop at three! It sounds strange, but looking back at my results in Istanbul and combining it with my recent significant birthday, it might even be a further motivation to get a good result this weekend.
“However, we must be realistic and I know we need a good improvement on the car, as we were not as strong as we expected in the first three races. But everyone in Maranello has been working very hard to produce some aero updates for this race, so hopefully we can be a bit stronger, even though these new elements cannot be considered to be a major upgrade. That is the story for this weekend, but we can expect more improvements to follow at the races immediately after this one.”
Massa says that ultimate qualifying pace is only part of the story in 2011, stressing that Ferrari looked strong in the race in China.
“If you look at our positions in qualifying at the last race, we did not have the performance to deliver a podium result, but during the race itself our pace was such that we were actually fighting for a top three finish. We cannot say now what the situation will be in Turkey, because if we have been working hard, then so have the other teams, but it is not impossible that we will find ourselves with a car capable of fighting for a podium.
“It is true that the tire situation is the same for everyone, but it is equally true that this could again be the key factor in deciding what happens in the race. The famous Turn 8 will be very important, because you really put a very heavy load on the tires at this corner so we need to think carefully about the car set-up to deal with it and control the degradation.
“One element that could make this a completely different situation is that, currently, the weather forecast predicts some rain on nearly every day of the race weekend, which means we and especially our strategists have to be very concentrated and ready for anything. I can’t remember rain in Istanbul, so it could make life interesting.”
Adam Cooper notched up his 26th season as a racing journalist in 2010. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.
via FORMULA ONE – F1: Massa Looks For Good Luck In Turkey.
ISTANBUL businessmen are refusing to stump up £15million – double the cost of last year – to subsidise the Turkish Grand Prix and say the next race in a fortnight will be the last.
Istanbul businessmen are refusing to stump up £15million Read more:
But Bernie Ecclestone, who owns the circuit and is race promoter, says he wants to keep the race and believes it has a long-term future.
“It looks like the Formula One race will not be held in Istanbul next year,” said Murat Yalcintas, head of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce.
Yesterday, Ecclestone said: “The race brings a huge amount of people, trade and publicity to the city. I am a bit disappointed and I hope we can work out a deal.”
via Express.co.uk – Home of the Daily and Sunday Express | Sport | Motorsport.
Recent reports have revealed that the future of the Formula 1 Turkish Grand Prix is in jeopardy.
An official of the venue claims that the finance ministry of the country is not going to double the race fee as requested by the sport’s organisers.
Murat Yalcinta, who is the head of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, has stated that Formula 1 Management’s CEO Bernie Ecclestone asked the organisers of the Turkish Grand Prix to increase the price from next year. The current contract will expire after this season’s race which is expected to take place in less than 3 weeks time.
Murat believes that the race after 2011 is not likely to “go ahead” after holding a board meeting about the future of the Turkish Grand Prix.
“Each year the price of Formula 1 for the racing ministries company was $13 million. After this year Ecclestone asked for $26 million,” Murat wrote on his Twitter page.
However, no official statement by the organisers of the Turkish Grand Prix has been released yet regarding the matter. However, since the venue’s Formula 1 debut back in 2005, the attendances at every year’s event are increasing which is also increasing the profit margin of the organisers.
As a result, since the International Automobile Federation (FIA) is asking for more money for the race, the organisers will have to go through a tough time in order to hold the race at the Istanbul Park Circuit.
According to the current situation, it seems that Bernie might not be too concerned about losing the race for the years to come as the United States Grand Prix is expected to return to the Formula 1 calendar in 2012. This time, the US GP will take place at a newly built circuit in Austin instead of the old Indianapolis circuit.
Other than that, Ecclestone is going through a tough time in pleasing the teams along with introducing new and more venues for the sport since most of the teams want to keep a year’s season to a maximum of 20 races.
Because of this, Bernie is being forced to get rid of some venues as well as he stated some time ago that the sport “does not need the Australian Grand Prix.” The organisers of the Australian GP were also not willing to pay more money for the event.
Nevertheless, the Indian Grand Prix is expected to debut in 2011 at the end of October and it seems that Bernie’s thirst for new venues might lead to the elimination of some current venues from the Formula 1 calendar which might include the Turkish Grand Prix as well.
via Refusal of Turkish Grand Prix organisers to pay more fee to FIA puts future of race in jeopardy | bettor.com.
