Work on the new Herman Tilke designed 5.333 KM circuit began with a ground breaking ceremony performed by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey in September 2003 with Grandstand construction starting in June of 2004 and come January of 2005, the circuit landscaping was fully underway.

The circuit designed by Aachen-based architect Herman Tilke is a rollercoaster track featuring six right-handers and eight left-handers. The race is run in a anticlockwise direction and the start/finish straight is 655.5 metres long. The complex in Tuzla Tepeören on the Asian side of the city straddling the Bosphorus can accommodate 130,000 spectators.

Istanbul encompasses the southern Bosphorus, the strait that divides the city into a western European and an eastern Asian part. The Golden Horn is a narrow inlet of the Bosphorus that runs westwards and divides the European side of the city into a southern peninsula surrounded by the Sea of Marmara and the Golden Horn. This is where historic Istanbul is situated. To the north of the Golden Horn is the Galata district.

The city limits define an area of 1,538.77 square kilometres, with the metropolitan region of Istanbul extending to 5,220 square kilometres. Between 1927 and 1955, the population of Istanbul rose from 680,000 to 1.3 million. In 1975 it had 2.5 million inhabitants, and the population has since risen to some ten million. Around one third lives on the Asian side.