Sochi Autodrom


The Sochi Autodrom, previously known as the Sochi International Street Circuit and the Sochi Olympic Park Circuit, is a 5.848 km Formula One permanent race track in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi in Krasnodar Krai, Russia.
The circuit is similar to the Beijing Olympic Green Circuit and the Sydney Olympic Park Circuit in that it runs around a former Olympic complex; in this case, the Sochi Olympic Park site, scene of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. The inaugural World Championship Russian Grand Prix took place in 2014, beginning a seven-year contract.
Also, the TCR International Series raced at Sochi in June 2015, with the TCR Russian Series and SMP F4 Championship as support series.

Development

Earlier the International Olympic Committee was given the power to delay the race until 2015 if preparations for the race interfered with the Winter Olympics, though the Games started without interruption. In October 2011, the Russian government set aside US$195.4 million for the construction of the circuit.
The construction of the Sochi Olympic Park Circuit marked the end of a thirty-year campaign for a Russian Grand Prix, with plans for a "Grand Prix of the Soviet Union" originating as early as 1983 before being abandoned for "bureaucratic reasons" and several failed attempts in the intervening years.
The circuit received its final approval from the FIA in August 2014.

The circuit

The circuit is the fourth-longest circuit on the Formula One calendar, behind Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, Baku City Circuit in Azerbaijan and Silverstone in the UK. The circuit is built around the Sochi Olympic Park, that is the coastal cluster of Olympic venues built for the 2014 Winter Olympics that have hosted competitions in ice hockey, speed skating, curling, figure skating, short track etc., and Fisht Olympic Stadium where Opening and Closing ceremonies were held. The surface was not laid until after the Closing Ceremony of the Olympics.
The circuit, designed by German architect Hermann Tilke, has the start grid on the northern edge of the Olympic Park next to the railway station, heading southwest towards the Black Sea coast. Then it runs along the outer edge of the central Sochi Medals Plaza, that is the podium for Olympic medal ceremonies. The long Turn 3 is one of the most notable on the circuit, and has been compared to the famous Turn 8 in Istanbul Park. Then, the track circles the plaza counterclockwise and makes three turns around the Bolshoy Ice Dome. Then follow series of tight corners before turning north where the track skirts the edge of the Olympic Park, above the main Olympic Village and the Adler Arena Skating Center. Then it passes the skating and curling centres, before funneling up behind the pit paddock toward the train station, and completing a circuit with two ninety-degree right turns.

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