The 2021 Turkish Grand Prix came to replace the cancelled Canadian Grand Prix a few weeks ago. Taking place over the weekend of June 13, 2021 in Istanbul, the news had been pessimistic for a few days about the holding of the event due to the health crisis and it is now official.
« We all wanted to go racing in Turkey but the travel restrictions put in place in June prevent us from doing so. Despite this cancellation, we can see that Formula 1 is able to react very quickly and adapt,” commented Stefano Domenicali, the new CEO of Formula 1, in the statement.
Several countries – including England – have indeed placed Turkey on the list of countries in mandatory quarantine zone in case of origin from this country. This poses a problem for the teams located in England who will have to ask their staff to stay at home. Given the consecutive Grand Prix races, it is really complicated to do without engineers or mechanics.
The situation is indeed worrying in Turkey, which is experiencing an increase in the number of cases and has implemented a strict lockdown as of April 19 for a minimum of 3 weeks, making negotiations between the teams, the FIA, and local health authorities regarding the Formula One circus passage more difficult.
We will replace this race to stay on a 23-race calendar as originally planned in 2021,” said the F1 director.
In a statement published this Friday, F1 confirmed that Turkey was abandoned and that there would be a reshuffling of the calendar to allow for two consecutive races in Austria.
The French Grand Prix will now be moved to June 20, and the races in Austria will take place on June 27 and July 4.
I want to thank the promoter and the Turkish authorities for all the efforts they have made in recent weeks, as well as the French and Austrian promoters for their speed, flexibility, and enthusiasm in finding this solution. We have had very good conversations with all the other promoters since the beginning of the year and we continue to work closely with them during this period.
At the moment, only the Canadian Grand Prix has been fully canceled for 2021 as the Australian one has been postponed to the end of the year.
According to our information, Turkish GP accreditations are maintained if the event is rescheduled for a later race in the season, for example in case of cancellation of another Grand Prix and if Turkey is in a more favorable health situation.
UPDATE:
The French Grand Prix is now moved forward by one week to make way for a Styrian Grand Prix, a second race in Austria.
Find the complete F1 calendar here.
On résume:
🇹🇷 GP Turquie annulé le 13 juin
🇫🇷 GP France avancé au 20 juin au lieu du 27
🇦🇹 GP Styrie ajouté au 27 juin !
😇 #F1 #CalendrierF1 #F12021— Motors Inside F1 (@MotorsInside) May 14, 2021
