Sochi, Russia 2014 Grand Prix

2010 has been one of the most revolutionary years for Formula One in terms of regulation changes and introducing new venues in order to expand and take the sport all around the world. Bernie Ecclestone has been proposing some wild ideas like an African, Russian and a Roman Grand Prix mainly and it seems that he has succeeded in achieving half of these targets.

According to the organizers of the 2014 Russian Grand Prix, the race has been planned to take place at a Sochi-based track and they believe that the fans won’t be disappointed.

The organizers of the Russian track believe that Hermann Tilke has something unique in store for the fans according to Andrey Kraynik, “When we first invited Tilke down to see Sochi in 2009 we stressed the importance of ensuring the track design got the balance right. The track will be a classic track with an emphasis on good overtaking opportunities, no gimmicks. It will have a mix of high speed corners, long straights and hairpins.

“On the one hand you will have the mountains as a backdrop and a city street-track feel at the same time. It will come to be loved by the fans like Montreal, and be challenging for the drivers like Monaco,” he added.

The track will be constructed around the city’s Olympic park that is expected to take place right after the Winter Games in 2014. According to Mayor Anatoly Pakhomov, the circuit will be completed well ahead of time in order to have sufficient time for the preparations of the Olympics. However, he insists that holding both of these events is not going to be a problem for the organizers.

“There is every intention to ensure that the F1 race will go ahead as planned in 2014. However, I don't foresee any slippage of the race into 2015 being necessary,” he said.



$200m (£126m) we be spent building the Sochi track and Ecclestone will charge $40m (£25m) for the rights to hold the race.

To celebrate the signing of a multi year contract to host the grand prix, we witnessed Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin step into and drive off in one of the Renault Formula One cars.

It's not something you can imagine many world leaders doing, even more highly unlikely that we would see Barak Obama, President of the United States, get behind the wheel of a Formula One car to celebrate the Austin 2012 contract, but perhaps comes as no surprise from Putin: he's previously flown jets, helped put out wildfires over Moscow and famously ridden horses bare-chested though mountains.

He seemed to like the F1 experience, too: observers heard him comment "it's good" as he stepped from the car.