AUGUST 14, 2002

Ecclestone goes to Turkey

Bernie Ecclestone is rumored to be taking a trip to Turkey this week on his way to the Hungarian GP to have a look at the various venues being suggested as possible homes for the proposed Turkish Grand Prix.

Bernie Ecclestone, Monaco GP 2002
© The Cahier Archive

Bernie Ecclestone is rumored to be taking a trip to Turkey this week on his way to the Hungarian GP to have a look at the various venues being suggested as possible homes for the proposed Turkish Grand Prix. Ecclestone is said to be visiting Istanbul on Wednesday followed by Ismir and Antalya on Thursday and then flying on to Budapest at the weekend.

Istanbul has long been the meeting point of the East and the West and used to be the country's capital until Ankara took over. It is however twice as large as Ankara in terms of population with around 7.7m people. Izmir (formerly known as Smyrna) is much smaller with only 2.1m people but is a major port in the west of the country, on the Aegean Sea. Antalya is another seaside location in the south of the country.

Ecclestone is going to have his work cut out getting all the planned races onto the F1 calendar in 2004 and 2005 and one cannot but wonder if his visit to Turkey is not also somehow related to a large boat that he is having built in the shipyards of Izmir...