From the beginning of the 1980s Bernie Ecclestone wanted to promote Formula 1 in communist countries and therefore organize a Grand Prix in the Soviet Union. The project did not come to fruition and finally the first test in an Eastern Bloc country took place in Hungary in 1986.
Following the organization of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014, the seaside resort is equipped with ultra-modern facilities and could also host an F1 Grand Prix. The Russian government invested 150,000 million euros in the construction led by Hermann Tilke.
This new semi-permanent route runs through the Olympic Park and has all the characteristics of the modern circuit: very wide track and large asphalt clearances, even if in most portions the walls border the track. The design is not of much interest even if the sequence of left turns which encircle the place of the Olympic podium is quite spectacular.