NEWS

Cyprus sees red over Grand Prix

Cyprus said yesterday it will complain to Formula One’s world governing body over the awards ceremony at the Turkish Grand Prix where Turkish-Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat officiated. Talat handed Ferrari driver Felipe Massa the winner’s prize in Istanbul on Sunday after being introduced by organizers as president of the breakaway Turkish-Cypriot state in the island’s north, which only Turkey recognizes. «This was a deliberately stage-managed move to promote the Turkish-Cypriot leader as the supposed president of an independent state,» said Cypriot government spokesman Christodoulos Pasiardis. «Mr Talat is neither a citizen nor an official of Turkey, the organizing country, to be invited to present the Formula 1 winner’s trophy,» he added. The Cyprus Automobile Association is also expected to file its own complaint over the race, which is estimated to have had a viewing audience of 2.5 billion people worldwide.

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