Sochi start

In Sochi, the first Russian stage of the Formula 1 race began. The official start was given on Friday, free races took place on the highway, thanks to which the pilots were able to study the autodrome, understand its features and get used to the coating.

On Saturday in Sochi, a qualification is underway, according to which it will be clear who will start from what position. And on Sunday, at 15:00, the race starts directly, behind which 55 thousand people will follow the stands, including President Vladimir Putin.

Formula 1 went to Russia for a very long time. The project of the Grand Prix of the Soviet Union was discussed in the early 1980s. Bernie Ecclestone, the owner of the Formula, arrived in the USSR in 1982, the Moscow stage was even included in the preliminary calendar of the World Cup in 1983. However, the first and only race on the territory of the Eastern Bloc was organized in Hungary, for the first time it took place in 1986.

In the 1990s, Russia was not up to organizing world class races, although projects for the construction of tracks were offered by various companies, including Logovaz Boris Berezovsky, notorious joint-stock company.

After coming to power, Vladimir Putin drew attention to automobile races, in 2001 he approved the plan for the construction of the Avtodrome near Airport Pulkovo near St. Petersburg. Two years later, the mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, decided to build a route independently in the Molzhaninovsky district of the city - this is a deserted place north of the Moscow Ring Road.

Until some time, the two capitals seemed to be the main applicants for the Grand Prix of Russia Formula 1. In March 2008, Bernie Ecclestone even flew to St. Petersburg to negotiate with Valentina Matvienko, who was then the governor of the city.

All layouts, however, changed after Sochi received the right to hold the 2014 Winter Olympics. The city, which had not yet been distinguished by a large number of sports competitions, was necessary to “fill” as much as possible, otherwise to build stadiums and hotels there and really did not make sense.

Formula 1 in Sochi

From that moment, the federal authorities began to promote the construction of the route in Sochi. Moreover, such a configuration - the construction of a highway next to the former Olympic objects - has proven itself in Montreal and Sydroier.

Of course, there were no Russian features. The track in Sochi was built by the company "Center" Omega ", which belongs to the government of the Krasnodar Territory. In 2011, the construction cost was estimated at 6 billion rubles. A little later it turned out that the route would cost the budget of 11 billion rubles, and in the summer of 2014, the deputy general director of the company Alexander Mokhna carefully said that "the estimated value of the facility is approaching 16 billion rubles." This does not make the Russian route the most expensive. At today's exchange rate, 16 billion rubles are $ 400 million, and the Aba Dabi highway cost 500 million Arab sheikh.

Formula 1 in Sochi

The cost of building a route is far from all the costs that must be made to conduct the Formula-1 race. For the right to hold a competition, Bernie Ecclestone has to pay $ 40 million annually, it will be possible to reduce the fee only after 2020 - it was until this year that the contract has already been signed.

Draw the cost of conducting the race is extremely problematic. Someone, of course, gives an advertisement, but eyewitnesses report that in Sochi there are not so many. Even part of the ticket costs have to be transferred to the organizers of the Formula-1 championship.

In European and North American cities, in which the stages of Formula 1 are held, the question of payback, as a rule, is practically not. The tracks there have been built there for a long time and they are constantly loaded not only by the “formula”: the car concerns like to compete with each other perfectly of various technical innovations, and people like to observe this.

Formula 1 in Sochi

Plus, the more significant history, the Formula 1 stage boasts, the less money the organizers give to the owners of the race. So, the only country that does not pay contributions for conducting a race in principle - Monaco. The fact is that the race in this city is a kind of business card of the “formula”, and rather than a principality, but by Bernie Ecclestone, will suffer from a break in the contract.

This all means that for Russia, the Formula-1 stage is rather an image project, as well as for most of the third world countries. Over the past decade, Formula left South Korea, India, Turkey and France. Even earlier, Argentina, Portugal, Mexico and the Netherlands refused the competition. The main reason is losses from the Grand Prix. Because of this, the races stop during crises or economic problems and then, as a rule, do not resume.

At the same time, Formula 1 itself makes a stable profit. In 2013, gross income amounted to $ 1.7 billion, and the profit exceeded 0.5 billion more than a quarter billion - the same payments for the right to conduct a race, advertising contracts gave more than 200 million dollars.

Despite everything, the organization of Formula 1 race in Russia is a long-standing dream of not only ordinary citizens, but also the country's leadership. The “royal race” can be considered one of the signs of a “decent country”, which are so pleasant to possess.

Russia has already won the Eurovision Council, organized the Winter Olympics, won the right to hold the World Cup. Now, in order to finally make sure that Russia is included in the club of decent states, it is necessary to achieve the abolition of the visa regime with the European Union and, preferably, the abolition of sanctions. It would be better, of course, not to bring the matter to their introduction, but there is nothing to be done here.