ISTANBUL — The owners of Istanbul Park, the 5.3-kilometer circuit east of this city that was once called the best new track of its era, have submitted a bid to return to the Formula 1 calendar from 2028 under a 10-year agreement worth about $180 million in hosting fees, according to two people with knowledge of the proposal and documents reviewed by The Continental Times.
The bid, backed by the Turkish tourism ministry and a consortium of three Istanbul-based conglomerates, lands at a moment when the sport’s commercial rights holder is openly weighing how many European races it can keep on a calendar that is already at 24 events and has been tilting toward the Middle East, Asia and the Americas. Several long-standing European circuits have been told they will rotate from 2027, sharing a slot in alternating years.
“We are not asking for charity or for history,” said Aylin Demirkol, the chief executive of the company that operates the circuit, in an interview at the track on Friday. “We are offering a city of 16 million, a track the drivers love, and a fee that is competitive with anyone on the Mediterranean. The rest is the sport’s decision.”
Istanbul Park hosted the Turkish Grand Prix from 2005 to 2011 and again, during the pandemic, in 2020 and 2021. Its downhill, multi-apex left-hander known as Turn 8 remains one of the most discussed corners in the sport. The 2020 race, held in rain on a freshly resurfaced track, is routinely listed among the best of the decade. But attendance in the original years was poor, often below 40,000 over a weekend, and the circuit lost its slot over fees.
The new proposal addresses that history directly. It commits the operator to a metro extension that would reach the circuit gates by 2028, part of a line the city has already begun building, and to a ticket cap of 1,500 Turkish lira, about $36 at current rates, for general admission. Turkish officials have also offered to stage the race in late September, a slot that the sport is believed to be trying to fill as it reorganizes its European leg.
Not everyone is convinced the money adds up. “The hosting fee is one line. The question is what the sport earns from a Turkish broadcast market that is not large and a sponsor base that is thin,” said Jörg Petersen, a motorsport finance analyst at the consultancy Trackside Economics in Munich. “What Istanbul has going for it is that it is a fantastic circuit and a genuinely global city. That matters more than it used to, because the fans have started to notice when a race is boring.”
Turkish economic conditions are another question. Inflation, which exceeded 70 percent in 2024, has slowed but remains above 25 percent, and the lira has lost most of its value against the dollar over five years. The consortium has proposed to pay the hosting fee in dollars, escrowed in advance, a structure that one person familiar with the bid described as “the ministry’s answer before anyone asked.”
A decision is expected before the end of the year, when the 2028 calendar framework is set. Ms. Demirkol, standing at the top of the Turn 8 grandstand, where the view takes in three corners and the hills beyond, was asked what happens if the answer is no. “Then we keep the track in perfect condition,” she said, “and we ask again.”
A version of this article appears in print on Oct. 12, 2026, Section D, Page 6 of the European edition with the headline: Turkey Makes a $180 Million Bid to Bring Formula 1 Back to Istanbul Park.
