https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/151409/turkey-and-jerez-in-contention-for-2020-races Formula 1 could be set to return to Turkey and Jerez in November as it puts the final pieces in place on the 2020 calendar. With the Vietnam Grand Prix looking set to be cancelled, F1 is moving to add some more European events to the calendar before finishing the 2020 season in the Middle East in December. Thirteen races have currently been confirmed on the schedule so far this year, leading up to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola on 1 November. F1 organisers were hopeful of holding some Asian events in November ahead of the final races in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, but the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has made this unlikely. It means the Turkish Grand Prix could be set to feature on the F1 calendar for the first time since 2011, taking up a slot towards the end of November. The Istanbul Park circuit is operated by the Intercity group, which initially was part of talks between F1 and the Turkish government back in 2017 when Liberty Media took over as the championship's commercial rights holder. Intercity confirmed at the end of last month that it was once again in talks with F1 over reviving the Turkish Grand Prix. Since then, it is understood talks have advanced given the slim chances of racing in Vietnam, although a final deal is yet to have been struck. Istanbul Park does not regularly host any major racing series, but the track is understood to be in good condition, with only some minor work required on the grandstands should the race be opened up to fans. Image Unavailable, Please Login F1 is also understood to be considering a return to Jerez in another move that would bolster the calendar. Jerez last hosted an F1 race back in 1997, when it staged the season-ending European Grand Prix, with the most recent F1 running taking place there in 2014 when it was a venue for pre-season testing. Jerez hosted a standalone Formula 2 round back in 2017, and recently staged the opening two races of the MotoGP season. Should both Istanbul Park and Jerez join the schedule for 2020, it would put F1 on course for a 17-race calendar once the dates for Bahrain and Abu Dhabi are finalised.
Do you know what happens to the engine number limit if they keep adding races that were no planned? More GPs are welcome, of course.
There is talk now that Bahrain might not happen because of Covid, hence the announcement of new tracks.
And that just got squashed! Yeah! We now really have as full a season as if it was a normal year. Turkey, Abu Dhabi and 2 x Bahrain got confirmed. Even with spectators. All that negative talk about cancelling the season (hello Ecclestone, hello Benoit!) was just that, idle talk. Liberty made the impossible possible. Bravo to them! And there is no need to put an asterisk underneath the season's results because it only had 8 races, err 15 races...Nope, full blown season with all the teams. And thanks to Liberty's organizational talent and negotiations there will be enough races to get the full pot of TV gold, which will keep especially the small teams alive and gives them a shot at 2021. F1 is alive! More than ever!
2nd race at Bahrain to use outer circuit Bahrain’s ‘outer track’ for the Sakhir Grand Prix, with sub-60s laps. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Why not return to South Korea? It’s awesome track and next to japan. F1 is going down the hill because it is run by idiots Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat.com mobile app
I fear for this thread. I fear it will be banished to the P&R section. Any talk about a Turkish Grand Prix would be rife with political and religious ramifications. Seriously, Turkey and Greece could soon go to war (Daniel Pipes has explained in this in the Middle East Forum: http://www.danielpipes.org/19776/will-turkey-and-greece-clash-over-a-tiny-island). Turkey's leader, Erdoğan, will doubtless use the Grand Prix as another platform to push his agenda. But if we talk about what is surrounding the race, will not the thread be immediately banished to P&R, from whence no thread ever emerges to the world, alive? But how could we not talk about what surrounds the race? We talk of other circumstances, like COVID-19. What do we do?
Every country has its sins: Netherlands is a tax sink for the rest of Europe, at Texas there is death penalty and UK is the homeland of Lewis Hamilton. So if we start talking about the host country instead of about the race, we couldn´t talk about any race.