venue is located in Tuzla, Istanbul, at the outskirts of the city on the Asian side of the Bosporus Strait. It was the first Grand Prix of the year to take place outside of Europe. The race took place two weeks after the previous round in Italy and a fortnight before the following round in Bahrain. While teams had driven their cargo to previous editions, the plan for the 2020 meeting was to fly it to Turkey. A lap of the fourteen-turn circuit measures . The lap record was set in 2005 by Juan Montoya with a time of one minute and 24.770 seconds at an average of . A second drag reduction system (DRS) zone was added on the straight between the final and first turns, with the goal of aiding overtaking. The detection point was established after turn thirteen. During the 2011 Turkish Grand Prix, only the DRS zone located between turns eleven and twelve was used. The venue, which had not hosted a major racing event for several years, was renovated in the lead up to the race. Barriers and kerbs were upgraded, and the track was resurfaced. Tilke Engineers & Architects oversaw the resurfacing. The organisers of the Grand Prix hoped that it would lead to future events being scheduled for the venue, although they would not want to hold them during Ramadan. While the event was popular with competitors and television audiences, low in-person attendance and the high cost of hosting the race were responsible for its absence from the previous eight seasons. Ten teams (each representing a different constructor) each entered two drivers. The drivers and teams were the same as those on the season entry list, with no additional stand-in drivers for either the race or practice. Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto did not attend as he tested the feasibility of managing the team remotely. The Alfa Romeo team's participation marked the 500th Grand Prix entry by a team run by the Sauber Motorsport company. It was also Red Bull Racing's 300th Grand Prix entry as a constructor. Three drivers who had won previous editions were entered (Kimi Räikkönen, Lewis Hamilton, and Sebastian Vettel). Social distancing measures were put in place and workers were obliged to always wear masks. The Williams team made personnel changes after several workers either tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 or showed possible symptoms of COVID-19, with 24 workers