Turkey on standby for 2012 Bahrain axe - report

Turkey is on standby should Bahrain not return to the formula one calendar next season.

Last year’s race in the island Kingdom was called off due to the civil unrest.

But Bahrain’s troubles seem to be persisting still, with violence near the now-famous Pearl Square marking the parliamentary elections at the weekend.

According to veteran Swiss correspondent Roger Benoit, writing in the Blick newspaper, Turkey has been put on standby should Bahrain’s late April event be called off in 2012.

Turkey’s Istanbul Park was dropped from the 2012 schedule but F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone remains involved in the management of the venue.

Ecclestone is however sure that F1 will be back in Bahrain.

"They have assured me that the situation will be resolved and then we will go back there next year," he told Italian newspaper La Stampa in Singapore.