Domenicali: Replacing Sochi ‘no problem at all’

Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali says it would not be difficult to sort out a replacement event for the Russian Grand Prix.

There are major doubts over the 2022 staging of the Russian GP following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Already football’s Champions League final has been moved from Russian city St Petersburg to Paris, while the Polish national football team are refusing to play Russia in their upcoming scheduled World Cup play-off match.

Formula 1 also took action in some form, Domenicali having held a meeting with the team bosses on Thursday night in Barcelona where the status of the 2022 Russian Grand Prix was discussed.

A statement duly arrived in which F1 said it would be “impossible” to race in Russia, but by adding “in the current circumstances” that left something of a grey area with the Russian GP promoters interpreting that as the event being suspended rather than cancelled.

Of course, Formula 1 is no stranger these days to making unplanned calendar changes, since that was a common feature of both the 2020 and 2021 seasons due to the global pandemic.

With that experience and a huge current level of interest in hosting a grand prix, Domenicali said it would be no problem to find a Russian GP replacement.

“Talking specifically about the situation this year, because of the Russian situation, I just can confirm to you we have already proven in the last couple of years to be very flexible and not to have any problem in finding possible solutions for that,” said Domenicali, quoted by F1i.com.

“So I can just confirm, that could be an option for this year with no problem at all.”

Recently, Domenicali claimed such is the demand for Formula 1, a 30-round calendar could be agreed “tomorrow”.

And in a Friday