Formula 1 Turkish Grand Prix History
History - Facts - Winners - Schedule - Circuit
Istanbul hosted its first race in January 2005 for the first time, when the Istanbul circuit landscaping was fully underway. A ceremony performed by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey took place before the new circuit began to operate.
While the finishing touches were being applied the F1 circus arrived to Istanbul for the inaugural event. Fans and drivers alike were impressed with Istanbul’s undulating fast circuit. From the Pole Position, Kimi Raikkonen took the honor of winning at Istanbul the first Turkish Grand Prix for McLaren Mercedes.
At Istanbul Juan Pablo Montoya looked all set to make it a one-two result for the squad only for a late race incident with the lapped Jordan of Tiago Monteiro saw him drop a position to Fernando Alonso.
Location
The Site is located on the Asian side of Istanbul, 6 km from the junction of Kurtkoy on the north side of TEM Motorway, linking Istanbul to Ankara. The site is close to the Sabiha Gokcen Istanbul Airport.
The total area allocated for the Istanbul project is 2,215,000 m2. The racing circuit which runs counter-clockwise is 5,378m long with an average width of 15m, excluding Runoff Areas. The Istanbul Circuit is composed of 13 curves, of which 6 are right turns and 7 left turns. The sharpest turn in Istanbul’s Circuit has a radius of 15m. The Istanbul Circuit runs over 4 level sections with rising and descending grades. The maximum theoretical speed expected to be achieved is 320.5 Km/hr.
At Istanbul, the main parking areas, with the total parking capacity of 20,000 are located along the outer peripheral ring road which is 5,482m in length and will facilitate the movement of traffic on the outer limits of the Istanbul project area.
In addition, Istanbul’s project consists of 2.3 km of inner service roads and emergency lanes. There are 4 under-passes and 3 pedestrian over passes linking the natural ground stands and temporary moveable stands with the parking areas. The central area is reserved for the construction of Go-Cart Racing track.
The main Istanbul Grand Stand is constructed over an area of 12,700 m2 and has the seating capacity of 30,000 spectators. In addition, the temporary stands and natural ground stands provide a total capacity of over 155,000 spectators. At Istanbul’s Circuit the paddock buildings are two level structures. There are two VIP towers at the two ends of paddock buildings, each consisting of 7 floors to provide a floor space of 7,392 m2.