Sochi to host Russian Grand Prix, says Vladimir Putin
Baku, October 14 (AZERTAC). Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says a deal has been agreed for the Black Sea resort of Sochi to host the Russian Grand Prix from 2014.
Putin made the announcement ahead of a meeting with F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone in the city.
"We have reached an agreement with the principal owner of Formula 1 that Sochi would host the Russian Grand Prix from 2014 to 2020," said Putin.
The city is also hosting the Winter Olympics in 2014.
Ecclestone is keen to expand the sport to new parts of the world with Singapore, China, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi being added to the F1 calendar in recent years.
A new race will take place in India from 2011 - taking the calendar to an unprecedented 20 races - while it was announced earlier this year that F1 will return to the United States from 2012 at a new track in Austin, Texas.
Ecclestone has said that 20 races was probably the limit for the sport, which could lead to other races being dropped.
Two European races that secured their futures this year were the Italian Grand Prix, which will remain at Monza until 2016, and the Monaco Grand Prix, which signed a new 10-year contract in July.
Silverstone last year signed a contract to host the British Grand Prix until 2017.
Ecclestone told BBC Radio 5 live earlier this year that it was more important to be in Russia than anywhere else in the world at this moment.
"The only question mark is Russia, where we should be and we are not," he said in July, when also revealing his interest in taking F1 back to South Africa.
Ecclestone has been trying since at least 1982 to take F1 to Russia but plans for races at St Petersburg and Moscow did not materialise.
This year, F1 has its first Russian driver in Vitaly Petrov, although he has struggled to perform consistently and his future at Renault has been the subject of much speculation.
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