Mark Webber was one of the first drivers to publicly acknowledge it, as he revealed he even discussed the matter with fellow F1 driver and championship leader Jenson Button during the parade lap on Thursday. It appears the Turkish grandstands, although having built at a 150,000-seat capacity, only hosted some 36,000 spectators during the Sunday race.
“Jenson and I spoke about this on the parade lap, that to get some more people in here, to let them experience our sport, we should have let them in for free,” commented the 32-year old driver, who scored his 3rd podium of the season last Sunday.
Having missed the Turkish Grand Prix due to a kidney infection, Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone also urged the promoters of the Istanbul race to do their job, or else the GP will be scrapped from the F1 calendar in the near future.
“I need to speak to the Turkish prime minister soon and see what the future of the circuit is. They just don't promote the race. They have a huge catchment area of East European and Middle East countries. The layout is brilliant, they just don't promote it,” Ecclestone told a Daily Express reporter on Sunday.
Several reports during the past week showed that Turkey is on the verge of losing their right to host F1 races beyond 2011 due to financial problems. Although the Hermann Tilke designed circuit is currently being rented by Ecclestone from the Istanbul chamber of commerce, the 78-year old Englishman publicly stated that the track's agreement with the FOM (Formula One Management) from 2011 onwards is under review.
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