Will I Miss
The Turkish
Grand Prix

The question has been raised as to the possibility of Turkey losing its Grand Prix event. I should wish to raise the question of whether I, or the Formula 1 community in general, will miss this event.

With the circuits general director Can Güçlü worrying about the threat of new race venues on the horizon, it seems a legitimate concern that one of Formula 1's newer venues will be the one to go in favour of these new events.

"We are afraid that 2011 may be the last year of the staging of F1 in Istanbul. There is serious competition from such countries as South Africa, Russia, Bulgaria and South Korea. South Korea has a highly developed economy and they place importance on sporting events. The World Cup was held in there in 2002. And Russia has already started constructing a race course.

If we want the Turkish Grand Prix to stay on the calendar, we need to start working immediately. Or else, we cannot just begin negotiating for the race in the last year of the contract."

Can he (rather they) save the circuit though? Turkey is possibly one of the sport's best circuits. One which won me over, despite massive reticence regarding yet another Hermann Tilke designed track being introduced to a heavily Tilke saturated calendar. Of course, both the South Korean and Russian circuits as well as the future Indian circuit are all designed by Tilke, so we certainly need not worry about reducing this apparent qouta of tracks. Yet, even fantastic track design has yet to save our best venues.

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is, I believe, one of our best tracks, yet it will be ignored in favour of "new and exciting" opportunities. Likewise Spa was repeatedly sidelined despite it being arguably the best circuit in Formula 1. No, certainly circuit design alone can not prevent the loss of an event.

What then can be done (or rather what ought the organisers do) to save the event? Surely, they can do nothing. Formula 1 will always select the circuits which it sees as the most financially viable for itself. As a result of the excitement caused by new venues, this in itself will be the financially viable option. Turkey is not exactly the most enticing business venture possible and as a result it can stand to be replaced.

It may be unfortunate business and capital will dictate the circuits Formula 1 decides to keep and expand into, yet Formula 1 is no doubt a sport of capital. It is simply a shame we may lose the Turkish Grand Prix as a result. Hopefully the realisation of the Hungarian Grand Prix as a weak economic venture will follow soon after. What a useless circuit.