AUGUST 16, 2002

Turkish delight at Ecclestone remarks

Turkey is enjoying much publicity thanks to remarks made by Bernie Ecclestone yesterday that there is a 99.9% chance of a Grand Prix happening in the country.

Turkey is enjoying much publicity thanks to remarks made by Bernie Ecclestone yesterday that there is a 99.9% chance of a Grand Prix happening in the country. Ecclestone said that the decision would be taken in a couple of months and indicated that there are seven different bids at the moment for two slots on the calendar.

The past record suggests that races are more likely to happen when they are not talked about and the favorites to get the available dates (no-one has yet explained which races will be dropped to make way for the new races) remain Shanghai and Bahrain while Beirut, Egypt, Moscow and Turkey appear to be the others involved. Presumably the countries which currently have the races will also be bidding to keep their events as well. The whole situation looks likely to provide Ecclestone with the chance to play all the bidders off against one another and so come away with a larger pile of money than would otherwise be the case - a tactic which has seen Mr. E well-rewarded in the past.