13/10/2010
NEWS STORY
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is expected to sign an agreement tomorrow (Thursday) which will see work begin on a Grand Prix circuit in Sochi.
If all goes to plan, the Black Sea resort will host its inaugural Formula One race in 2014, the same year in which it will host the Winter Olympics.
Ecclestone, who has made no secret of his desire to see F1 in Russia - or any other country willing to meet his financial demands - recently revealed that after protracted negotiations the basic conditions for a contract have been agreed.
"The document has still not been signed but when the appropriate person from Russia signs it, I will sign it the next day," he told the Kommersant daily newspaper.
Putin, whose backing helped Sochi win the Winter Olympics, is due to visit the city on Thursday to sign the agreement which, presumably, means that Ecclestone will give the event the green light by the end of the week. Following his visit to Sochi, Putin is heading to Zurich where he will lead a delegation hoping to secure the rights for Russia to host the 2018 ot 2022 World Cup.
There have been a number of false starts for F1 in Russia over the years, but with Ecclestone and Putin working together, and Vitaly Petrov doing a (mostly) OK job for Renault - aided by numerous Russian sponsors - this could be the country's best chance yet.
However, there are sceptics, with Russian F2 racer concerned that there needs to be a change in the mentality of the backers of the project, that they must look at the event as a long-term investment.
"The construction of the circuit is an investment into the future," he said, according to Channel News Asia. "The staging of a Formula One race raises the prestige of the entire country and attracts crowds of tourists, who are ready to pay for the show. But the investors should be ready to wait years before their investments start bringing profit."
He also feared that jumping in to F1 at the deep end might not be the wisest move. "Staging a Formula One event in Russia in the existing conditions is a pure utopia," he added. "We should build several circuits for staging the national racing series before starting the construction of a Formula One racing course."