From 2021 onwards, the Russian GP will have a new home. The race, which was normally held at Sochi, will now take place in St. Petersburg.
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From 2021 onwards, the Russian GP will have a new home. The race, which was normally held at Sochi, will now take place in St. Petersburg. This marks a departure from the home of the Russian GP since 2014. The news was confirmed on Saturday itself on F1’s official website.
“We are looking forward to racing in a hugely exciting location that includes 10 professional tracks for racing and testing over approximately 100 hectares,” Formula 1 said in a statement.
“I am pleased to confirm following joint intensive work with our Russian partners and detailed assessment of Igora Drive – Formula 1 will be racing at that amazing circuit from 2023,” said F1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali.
“I am impressed by St Petersburg and believe that the Russian Grand Prix at Igora Drive will be an incredible event.”
The circuit is known as the Autodrom Igora Drive and was designed by Hermann Tilke. The venue was given Grade 1 status by the FIA at the end of 2020. This, in tuen, cleared it to become the second ever Russian host of a Formula 1 Grand Prix.
It is 54km from St Petersburg and has 10 different track layouts over approximately 100 hectares.
The German Touring Car series DTM was set to race there on a 15-turn 4.086km anti-clockwise circuit. But the event was cancelled because of the Covid 19 pandemic.
St Petersburg is the birthplace of Russian president Vladimir Putin. He has regularly attended the race in Sochi to hand out the winner’s trophy.
Formula 1, whose commercial rights are owned by U.S.-based Liberty Media, has been open about wanting to host more races in or near ‘destination cities’.
Formula 1 says more details on the race will be released in the coming months. But this year’s Russian Grands Prix is set to take place at Sochi on September 26.
It is different to the previous Sochi Autodrom. That particular venue was a street circuit but built around the Sochi Olympic Park, that is the coastal cluster of Olympic venues built for the 2014 Winter Olympics.
The circuit has the start grid on the northern edge of the Olympic Park next to the railway station. It then runs along the outer edge of the central Sochi Medals Plaza. The long Turn 3 is one of the things the circuit is known for.
The circuit is similar to the Beijing Olympic Green Circuit and the Sydney Olympic Park Circuit. This is because it also runs around an old Olympic complex.
The Sochi track is notable for being a venue where only Mercedes drivers have won. This is understandable, given the track came in during the team’s dominance of the turbo-hybrid engine era.
Lewis Hamilton has won four times on the track, with Valtteri Bottas winning twice on the track, including last year. Nico Rosberg won the race once in 2016, the same year he won the world championship.
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