Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
The year 2012 gave us the first ever 20 race Formula 1 schedule, but it appears that 2013 will not be a repeat performance. According to a report, plans to schedule a Turkish Grand Prix for 2013 have fallen through.
The empty slot that the FIA was attempting to fill with a race in Turkey was initially supposed to be occupied by a planned second race in the United States to be located somewhere in New York or New Jersey. When those plans didn’t come together in time to make the 2013 schedule they had to be pushed back to possibly 2014. That left an open weekend in July, which was tagged to be filled by a European race with Turkey being the favored location. Race organizers seemed confident that they would secure the funding for the Grand Prix, but it now appears that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has chosen not to provide the state funding needed to hold the event and that plans will have to be scrapped.
FIA head Bernie Ecclestone had previously said that Turkey was the only venue he was in talks with to fill the slot, so it appears that the 2013 season will hold at 19 races long.
The Turkish Grand Prix was run from 2005-2011, with all seven races run at Istanbul Park, but was left off the 2012 schedule. Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing was the last to win the event, while Felipe Massa of Ferrari is the only repeat winner, having claimed three victories at the circuit.
