Formula 1 race could return to Istanbul Park

Hülya Güler - ISTANBUL/Hürriyet

Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone

Bernie Ecclestone, the boss of Formula 1, has said he is interested in bringing the Formula 1 Grand Prix back to Istanbul.

“We didn’t bid in the Istanbul Park tender,” Ecclestone told Hürriyet newspaper, referring to the tender held two weeks ago to decide the fate of Istanbul Park, the track built to house the Formula 1 races. “If there’s a chance we would like to hold the Grand Prix once again in Istanbul,” he said, adding that he was preparing to negotiate once more to discuss the conditions for a Istanbul Grand Prix. The Formula 1 Grand Prix first came to Istanbul in 2005, but Istanbul Park was dropped off the Formula 1 circuit in 2012 after Ecclestone asked the Turkish Finance Ministry to increase its payment to host the Grand Prix from $13 million per year to $26 million. If Istanbul is included once more in the circuit, the 2013 Istanbul Grand Prix could take place on June 16.

On Oct. 10, MC Yarış Sporları won the tender for the Istanbul Park Race Track. Previously, the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce President Murat Yalçıntaş said that they had initially approached the government to rent the race track, but the government had asked them to rent it to them for free. It was then that they decided to hold a tender for private firms.