‘No more racing in Russia’: F1 CEO says sport has no intention to hold future races in Russia | CBC Sports

Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said the sport has no plans to hold future races in Russia.

The Russian Grand Prix was scheduled to be held in Sochi this year before moving to Igora Drive in St. Petersburg in 2023, but F1 cancelled the race after Russia invaded Ukraine. And Domenicali said the sport has no intention of returning to the country.

“I’ve always believed that you should never say never,” Domenicali told Sport Bild magazine, per GrandPrix.com. “But in this case, I can promise for sure — we will no longer negotiate with them.

Alexey Titov, the CEO of Russian GP promoter ANO Rosgonki, said he expects F1 to refund payments made following the cancellation of this year’s race.

“This debt exists, it is confirmed and our position on it is unchanged,” Titov told Russian news agency Tass. “We expect a refund regardless of the current position of Formula One Management in relation to holding races in the Russian Federation.

“The future of our relations today is really unclear. We will take Domenicali’s position into account in our further work.”

This is the first year since 2014 that a race has not been held at the Sochi Autodrom, with Mercedes having won every race to date.