08.03 Putin Pushes Formula 1 as Sochi Olympic Legacy Project

SOCHI, March 8 (R-Sport) – Russian President Vladimir Putin was keen to emphasize the Olympic legacy benefits of hosting Formula One racing in Sochi as he met with the sport’s supremo Bernie Ecclestone on Saturday.

The first F1 Russian Grand Prix will be held at Sochi’s new Olympic Park circuit in October, winding around the venues from last month’s Sochi Olympics.

Part of the aim is to stop the park falling into disuse like many recent Olympic facilities, such as those in Athens and Beijing.

“It’s very pleasing to me that the Formula One project in Sochi will be a bright and good addition to what was done in the preparations for the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games,” Putin said at a meeting with Ecclestone in Sochi.

“And it will allow us later on to more effectively use everything that’s been created here, when these major competitions end.”

Putin conceded that there had been some problems in preparing to host F1 in Russia, a possible reference to reported construction delays, but added: “We will overcome them.”

A Russian team, Marussia, and Russian driver Daniil Kvyat of Toro Rosso are to be on the grid for the October 12 race.

Sochi organizers are planning to move the date of the Grand Prix to May for the 2015 season in an apparent attempt to tie the race into the high season for beach tourism in the city.

The Russian Grand Prix will be the culmination of three decades of efforts to bring the sport to Russia, dating back to Soviet government plans for a Moscow Grand Prix that never came to fruition.

The 2014 F1 season starts March 16 with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.