Shortly after the first Russian Vitaly Petrov became a Formula 1 pilot, Bernie Ecclestone suggested the Black Sea resort of Sochi could host one of the Grand Prix races in autumn 2014.
In the past few years, the Formula 1 Chief Executive has made attempts to give the race new homes by signing contracts with the countries that are new to Formula 1, such as Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Turkey and South Korea.
However, such strategy doesn’t have a desired effect. This week, the future of the Turkish Grand Prix, which has had the lowest turnout of all races, was brought into question, when Ecclestone almost doubled the yearly fee to host the race.
Ecclestone nevertheless seems to go on with his plans to expand the Formula 1 map to the ex-Soviet space. During recession the construction of Moscow Raceway had been stopped and Ecclestone turned his attention to Sochi.
The deal to hold a Grand Prix in Olympic host city in 2014, already described as “the world’s most expensive development project” for its $30 billion budget, seems to be a juicy contract for Bernie. But the Russian officials fear that investors for the Sochi Grand Prix may expect the same further developments as in Turkey. Source: www.atorus.ru
