Turkey Grand Prix Axed from 2012 Formula One Diary

The Turkish Grand Prix has been axed from the Formula One Grand Prix season for next year after a seven year run.

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone had left a question mark against the Istanbul track when he issued a provisional list of races for next year in July.

But the 20-strong definitive list agreed by the World Motor Sport Council saw Turkey lose out while Bahrain returned to the program after missing out this year due to domestic civil unrest.

Whilst the Turkey Grand Prix has regularly thrown up good races, attendances have been poor and Ecclestone was unable to agree a new deal with race organizers, sealing its fate.

Bahrain is back with a slot on April 22.

The provisional calendar in July had Bahrain back-to-back with Middle Eastern neighbor Abu Dhabi late in the year in the belief that pairing it with its neighbor would allow further time for peace to be restored to the Gulf kingdom.

However, it has been decided the race will be the fourth in the calendar, and will be back-to-back with China.

The season will start in Australia on March 18, to be followed a week later by the Malaysian Grand Prix, and then a three-week gap to the China and Bahrain double-header.

As in the provisional calendar there will be a five-week summer break, with the tail end of the season seeing back-to-back races in Belgium/Italy, Japan/Korea, India/Abu Dhabi and concluding with the United States/Brazil on November 18 and 25.

The return of the U.S. Grand Prix was initially penciled in for June and was back-to-back with Canada, but due to concerns regarding the 40 degree heat at that time of year, it now becomes the penultimate race of the season.