LET’S GOOOOOOOO!!! The Turkish GP is rejoining the 2021 F1 Calendar, this time to replace the cancelled Singapore GP!!!
On the 4th of June 2021, the Singapore Grand Prix race organisers confirmed that they are cancelling the 2021 Singapore GP. Along with that incredibly sad news came some hope for either the Turkish Grand Prix or the Chinese Grand Prix to fill in the spot on the calendar. The Turkish GP is a race that people find hard to fault. The Turkish GPs are always exciting, the circuit is fantastic. And in general, the fans simply love to see this race on the calendar.
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The 2020 Turkish Grand Prix was an absolute banger and was voted the greatest race of a crazy 2020 season. The weather was wet, drivers made mistakes, and many overtakes and battles took place throughout the race. That race was so good that F1 fans wanted a 2021 Turkish Grand Prix. As you guys probably know, the original 2021 F1 calendar didn’t have the Turkish GP on it. This disappointed a lot of fans, but then SOME great news came.
F1 cancelled the 2021 Canadian Grand Prix, and guess which race they replaced it with? Yes, the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix made it’s way to the 2021 F1 Calendar. But a couple of weeks later, the F1 world was in for some bad news. New travel restrictions came into place restricting travel from Turkey to some European countries.
Since all of the F1 teams have their headquarters in Europe, travelling to Turkey from Europe and then returning after the race weekend would be problematic. So that is why F1 cancelled the 2021 Turkish GP. F1 left that weekend slot empty, reshuffled the calendar and added in the Styrian GP.
And then 3 weeks ago, the Singapore GP organisers cancelled the race for the 2nd year in a row. The COVID-19 restrictions tightened in Singapore, which brought concerns for both safety and logistics, which made it more sensible to cancel the race earlier in the year.
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As I mentioned in the post about the Singapore GP being cancelled, the Turkish GP organisers and Chinese GP organisers requested to try and add the races to the calendar if a race got cancelled. The Turkish GP organisers worked with F1 and put in many efforts so that the Turkish GP could take place in November, and so F1 could confirm that this race would make it to the calendar.
F1’s statement said: “After discussions with other promoters we are confident that we will be able to travel to the following race under our strict safety protocols.
“The Formula 1 community will continue to travel this season with stringent safety measures that has allowed us to travel safely this season. So far this season we have conducted over 44,000 tests with 27, positive cases a rate of 0.06%, with most coming during the earlier part of the season.
“Alongside this a significant proportion of the F1 community has been vaccinated already and we are confident that all will have had the opportunity to do so by the end of the summer. We will continue to operate in a way that protects the safety of our personnel and the communities we visit.”
Stefano Domenicali, President and CEO of Formula1, said: “We are delighted to be coming back to Turkey to Intercity Istanbul Park circuit. We hope to see another fantastic race again in one of the best tracks in the world.
“We want to thank the Intercity Istanbul Park management and Mr. Vural Ak for his personal efforts to make this event to happen. We have shown that we can continue to adapt and there is huge interest in our sport and the hope from many locations to have a Grand Prix.
“We have had very good conversations with all the other promoters since the start of the year and continue to work closely with them during this period.”
