The construction of the Sochi Autodrom, which staged the inaugural Russian Grand Prix, "is a story of cooperation among the local Russian company that has built the circuit, Formula One’s leading architect and a consulting company that specializes in helping new Grand Prix sites around the world meet the series’ specifications," according to Brad Spurgeon of the N.Y. TIMES. Russian company OJSC Omega "constructed the Olympic Park for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games." Rasgaira, the consulting company, "has a three-year contract to help set up the race and plan future events year-around at the circuit." Former F1 Team Manager Richard Cregan, who runs Rasgaira, said, "The idea is that we help them start it, and then they pick up and will do it on their own in the future." In Sochi, the track, garage and pit areas, and the team paddock and hospitality facilities "were constructed before the Olympic Park was completed." They "were used as offices during the Games in February." OJSC Omega Deputy General Dir Sergey Vorobyev said that "ticket sales had been in line with expectations for the race’s first year" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/10). In a separate article, Spurgeon wrote F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone’s goal of holding a F1 race in Russia "has taken nearly 40 years to achieve." Because of political issues," many sceptics had believed until recently that the Russian race would never happen." Ecclestone "had been negotiating with Russian leaders about a potential Grand Prix since he held talks with the Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev after the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow." A deal was signed to hold a race -- dubbed the Grand Prix of the Soviet Union -- in Moscow in '83 and "it was added to a provisional Formula One calendar." But the race "was canceled for bureaucratic reasons, the first of a seemingly endless series of problems." For Sochi, the Grand Prix "also gives post-Olympics life to the 2014 Games venue and makes use of the infrastructure." For F1, Russia "is the last of the countries in the bloc of emerging market nations known as the Brics group" -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- to host a Grand Prix (N.Y. TIMES, 10/10).
