F1 assessing Turkish GP travel situation

Formula 1 says it is assessing the possible impact on the Turkish GP after the country was added to England’s travel ‘red list’ on Friday.

The Turkish GP in Istanbul was added to the calendar last week as replacement for the Canadian GP on June 13, which was cancelled for the second successive year due to Covid-19 restrictions.

On Friday, the Government announced that Turkey would be added to the red list from May 12.

UK citizens returning from countries on the high-risk ‘red list’ are required to quarantine at a Government-approved hotel for 10 days.

“We are aware of the announcement made by the UK government regarding travel restrictions for Turkey and are assessing the situation and will provide more details in the coming days,” said an F1 spokesperson.

The Turkish GP is scheduled to be the second leg of a back-to-back with the Azerbaijan GP. Istanbul is three hours from Baku by air, meaning the sport’s teams – seven of which are UK based – are scheduled to head straight to Turkey from Azerbaijan.

The French GP follows two weeks after the Turkish event.

Lewis Hamilton celebrates equalling Michael Schumacher’s record in Turkey last year

F1 returned to Istanbul Park after a nine-year absence as part of 2020’s heavily-revised calendar, with last November’s event the scene of Lewis Hamilton’s record-equalling seventh world championship title triumph.