Turkish F1 Grand Prix Dropped off the 2012 List

Formula 1 racing will not return to Turkey in the 2012 racing after a revised calendar featuring 20 races left Istanbul off the list.

The Turkish Grand Prix was only given a provisional date in the original calendar because its current contract had expired; on the final lineup, however, the race was axed from the plans.

The circuit will return to Bahrain in 2012 after the island monarchy’s repression of a pro-democracy uprising scuttled plans to hold the race there in March this year. The race was later pushed back to Oct. 30, 2011, but a campaign by human rights groups successfully canceled this year’s race altogether.

Next year’s race will be Nov. 4 in the Gulf state.

The calendar will start March 18 in Melbourne, while the Indian race was also moved to an earlier slot to prevent the United States Grand Prix from being run in extremely high temperatures in its original June 17 date.

Next season will also witness a number of back-to-back races, with the Australian and Malaysian, German and Hungarian, Belgian and Italian, Japanese and Korean, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain and U.S. and Brazilian grand prix to run on consecutive weekends.

July 29, 2011
SOURCE: HURRIYET DAILY NEWS