FIA lets Turkey off with a small fine despite it's provocative propaganda in the Turkish F1 race

5 million USD or roughly, a mere 3,3 % of the total cost of building the Turkish track: That's how much the FIA World Motor Sport Council estimated the Turk propaganda in the Turkish Grand Prix. For those who don't remember, Mehmet Ali Talat presented the trophy to the race winner, Felipe Massa. Talat was introduced on the podium as the... president of the Turkish Cypriot "state" - a pseudo entity recognised solely by the Turks since it's army illegally occupied the northern region of Cyprus in 1974.

And ok, the Turks wanted to play a political game, but what about FIA ? As Granprix site correctly remembers, the last time there was a podium problem was in Jerez in 1997. Then, local mayor Pedro Pacheco barged his way on to the podium, giving Daimler-Benz chairman Jurgen Schrempp who had been chosen to present the trophy a moment to remember. In that case though, which is a misdemeanour compared to what the Turks did , FIA cut the Jerez circuit from the Formula 1 World Championship.

And don't think for a moment that 5 million USD is a signigicant price to pay when politics are concerned -it's nothing. I really wonder how the Turks would have reacted, lets say hypothetical, if a Kurdish leader was invited to give a trophy in the next F1 Race representing the Northern Kurdish State of Turkey... via Autoblog.com & Granprix

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