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Building D5
Fairoaks Airport
Chobham
Surrey
GU24 8HU
Tel: 0871 399 0089
Fax: 01276 858010
View map
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Ecclestone doubles the Turkish GP hosting fee
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Questions marks surround the future of the Turkish Grand Prix on Friday after Formula 1 commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone elected to almost double the race's hosting fee from next season onwards. The Istanbul event has already received much criticism this season after local attendance figures dropped dramatically.
With the Grand Prix at Istanbul Park having made its debut on the F1 calendar in 2005, the anti-clockwise track is widely viewed as the best by well-known circuit designer Hermann Tilke, with the quadruple-apexed Turn 8 a particular favourite amongst drivers and fans alike. However, after turnout numbers plummeted steadily from highs of 200,000 four years ago to just 30,000 for the 2009 event, event organisers covered empty grandstands with black cloths this season in a bid to mask the vacant seating areas to television viewers. With all F1 race organisers having to pay a fee to Ecclestone, of Formula One Management (FOM), the Englishman is reported by Turkish publication Hurriyet Daily News as raising the payment from US$13.5 (£8.4m) to just under US$26m (£17m) for 2010, throwing the general outlook of the event into jeopardy. "In countries such as France and Germany, the Formula 1 CEO is requesting something between US$1.5m (£900,000) and US$4m (£2.5m)," a Turkish race official is quoted as saying. The raising of the race fee is not the first factor to have thrown the future of Turkey's race into doubt, as an incorrect description of a podium representative caused controversy and an FIA investigation after the 2006 race. |
