March 29, 2024

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Turkey replaces canceled Canadian Grand Prix

Turkey will substitute Canada on this year’s System Just one calendar soon after the June thirteen race in Montreal was cancelled on Wednesday for the next yr in a row thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

System Just one said it had extended Montreal’s agreement by two years to consider into account the cancellations, securing the race until eventually 2031.

The race had been scheduled for the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on the weekend soon after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and Turkey’s Istanbul circuit will be logistically convenient for air freight coming from Baku.

The Turkish race returned last yr for the initially time given that 2011 and also at limited recognize to bolster a calendar ravaged by the pandemic.

Vural Ak, chairman of Istanbul circuit operator Intercity, said spectators would be welcome and hoped the race would lead to a long-expression offer.

“We have a single of the most exciting circuits in the world, we really want our folks and our foreign company to be component of this excitement as nicely,” he said.

“Many thanks to the pandemic measures and initiatives our state has carried out, we approach to place tickets on sale as shortly as feasible.”

There have been no races in the Americas or Considerably East last yr, with the decreased, 17-round time carried out entirely in Europe and the Middle East and some circuits keeping extra than a single grand prix.

F1 BUBBLE

System Just one has operated in a bubble given that the pandemic, with teams and workers routinely analyzed and several vaccinated while most races have been held behind closed doorways, and is aiming for 23 grands prix this yr.

More than 78,000 COVID-19 tests carried out last time created only 78 optimistic final results and there have been 14 from extra than 12,000 so considerably this yr.

The sport had hoped to take a look at Canada without a mandatory 14-working day quarantine but a 3rd wave of the virus thwarted all those plans.

“I want to thank the promoter and authorities in Canada for all of their initiatives in recent months but the journey condition manufactured our plans not possible,” said chief executive Stefano Domenicali.

“I equally want to thank the promoter and authorities in Turkey for their ongoing willingness to host a System Just one race that demonstrates the substantial interest in our sport and the hope from several areas to have a Grand Prix.”

Last year’s damp and slippery grand prix at Istanbul Park was held in November and created a single of the highlights of the time, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton clinching his history-equalling seventh world title.

System Just one said it would operate with the Canadian promoter to refund or transfer tickets.

The race is the next cancellation of the yr, soon after China, while Australia has been moved from March to November. The future two races in Portugal, this weekend, and Spain are without spectators.

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