The Hermann Tilke-designed Istanbul Park was opened in 2005 and held the Turkish Grand Prix for the next seven years. Built on undulating land on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, it is an anticlockwise modern facility with tarmac run-off areas and 155,000 capacity. Unfortunately, with traffic chaos outside, many of those ticket holders were still queuing to enter the car parks as the inaugural GP was coming to an end. The highlight was undoubtedly the bumpy, sweeping Turn 8 that tested even the best. Felipe Massa won the Turkish GP for three years in a row (2006-08) and Lewis Hamilton came to prominence here by storming through the GP2 field to finish second in 2006. Hamilton won the Turkish GP in 2010 after the dominant Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber crashed into each other. It was a replacement race that helped fill the rearranged Formula 1 calendar following the coronavirus crisis of 2020 and 2021.
