http://en.rian.ru/russia/20101014/160949069.html Russia Sochi to host Formula 1 Grand Prix - paper Russia's Black sea resort city of Sochi will host a Formula-1 Grand Prix races in 2014-2020, a business daily said on Thursday. Vedomosti daily said the governor of the Krasnodar region, Alexander Tkachev, will sign a contract on Thursday with the president and CEO of Formula One Management and Formula One Administration, Bernie Ecclestone. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will also take part in the ceremony of signing the contract. Russia has been trying to host Formula-1 races since the late Soviet era. "All the private projects that have been proposed until recently, failed. They lacked money as well as management," Vedomosti cited F1 veteran commentator Alexei Popov as saying. "Such an ambitious project became possible only due to the political will of high-profile officials." "After the Olympic Games and the World Cup, this is the most spectacular sports event." Popov told Vedomosti. Some of Russia's largest companies, including Rostekhnologii, mobile provider Megafon, LUKoil, and RusAl, may invest $300-$600 million in the construction of an F1 track, Vedomosti said. MOSCOW, October 14 (RIA Novosti)
Ah well I did vote on Andreas, poll Moscow close enough so what do I win.. http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?p=139921036#post139921036
Why not have a second tier of races for these marginal sites. We already have the second tier teams and drivers to race in them We could call it Formula 2
Maybe they can finish the track in time to fill the slot the US race would have taken up. Sorry... Is it too early to give up on that one?
I hate these types of races, Korea and India will be the same. Countries that don't give a crap about the sport just as long as Bernie and their government or organisation can see $$$$$$$$. Then theres the US which is one of the biggest following countries of motorsport in the world and we have to wait until 2012 is it? Ridiculous!!
We must see the photo-op of Putin and Bernie standing together. Bernie standing up to Putin's knees, both with drawn daggers hidden behind their backs... BHW
Daggers I doubt it.. but who knows,..Bernie has been trying to get a race in Russia since the late 1970s. Image Unavailable, Please Login
But try also to consider why no US circuit wants to put money upfront if there are so many F1 followers there.
I would *dearly* love to know the specifics of the deal. Talked to my GF today - she has good friends in Sochi, so we're going to the F1 race and the Winter Olympics
Spot on. When we had USGP at Indy the tickets were the cheapest of the entire season. With ticket prices as usual it would have been a disaster. You're such an optimist. I always wondered: Which one in your avatar is she: The spanker or the spankee?
It's one of my qualities . I do think it will happen, it's the first purpose built track for F1 so I think they'll want to get it right and on time.
The US might have one of the biggest followings of Motor Sports, but the following for F1 is minuscule when you take into account the size and depth of the country. The only reason F1 is trying too once again establish a race in the US is due to the huge US based sponsorship money potential for the teams and the sport in general. What makes you think that these country's "don't give a crap"? You will find there is decent followings for F1 in Korea and India (the Korean race has been sold out for months and F1 has been live on a major Indian TV channel for long time, often with prime time slot), and as markets the potential for further growth is massive. F1 has tried to crack the US countless times in the last 50 odd years, but the US racing market is saturated with your own home based racing, there is just no room for F1 to grow there. I can also see the long term future of a US GP to be not financially sustainable. If the FOM demand there usual high fee's from the Austin promoters, without any government or council financial support, the grandstand ticket prices are going to have to be in-line with those in Europe and some of Asia, and i don't think enough of American race fans will be willing to pay $350 to $550 to attend a race. Schumacher once said it himself, he loves to be in the US, as its one of the few places in the whole world where no one ever recognises him.
I agree with that. The US already have strong dometic series against which F1 cannot compete. One GP a year can hardly compare against a whole season of IRL or NASCAR, series which are also very well organised with a large fan base, as opposed to F1 which a circus moving from place to place... But F1 wants to go to America under pressure from the sponsors who know there is a rich affluent market there, still out of reach ... The fact is also that F1 has been very badly catered for in the USA, with some races in the past that were not far from disasters... There is, for example, not a 'natural' F1 circuit in the US like Spa for Belgium, Monza for Italy, Silverstone for Britain, etc... I don't think that Indianapolis was a good track for F1, although all the infrastructure was there. The circuit layout was poor, IMHO...
Interesting observation there. European countries can sustain interest in F1 over a season because it is easy (Aside from cost) to travel to a number of races and to follow the championship in the press. Countries like Korea may have strong interest in their F1 race because it is by and far the biggest auto event of their year. In the US it would be a one off race with little context which would end up getting lost in the crowded domestic race calendar.
That is hard to believe. Lets see at race day how many empty seats there are. I bet this is another Shanghai.
