Russian Grand Prix

The Russian Grand Prix (Russian: Гран-при России) was a Grand Prix motor race briefly held in the 1910s in St. Petersburg. It is expected that on 100th anniversary of the last Russian Grand Prix, a new race, a round of the Formula One World Championship, due to join the calendar in 2014. After several decades of attempting to re-establish the race, Bernie Ecclestone and the head of Krasnodarsky Krai Development Technologies Sharing Centre Maikhail Kapirulin officially signed a contract in attendance of Russian prime minister[Vladimir Putin for the race to be run in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi on a yet to be constructed circuit.

Pre-WWI history
The Russian Grand Prix was run twice, in 1913 and 1914 at a circuit in St. Petersburg. The first race was won by Russian driver G. Surovin, whilst German Willy Scholl won the 1914 event. The race was abandoned following the outbreak of the First World War and the Russian Civil War, and it was not resumed with the establishment of the Soviet Union.

Soviet Union
Plans for a Grand Prix in Russia emerged in the early 1980s, with a proposed circuit in Moscow to be run under the title of the Grand Prix of the Soviet Union. The race was included on a provisional calendar for 1983, but bureaucratic barriers prevented the Grand Prix from being held. Hungary became the first communist country to host a race instead, joining the calendar in 1986.

Russia
In 2001, Vladimir Putin, then serving as President of Russia has expressed personal support to the project of the "Pulkovskoe Ring" near the Pulkovo Airport, but the race never came to fruition. Another attempt was made in 2003, with the Moscow council approving a project to build a track in the Molzhaninovsky area in the Northern District of Moscow, to be known as Nagatino Island. The project was abandoned after a dispute over the commercial contract. In September 2008, it was revealed that work was to begin on a Formula One circuit to be located at the town of Fedyukino, Voloklamsky District of the Moscow Province, approximately 77 kilometers (48 miles) away from Moscow, and been designed by Hermann Tilke. Known as the "Moscow Raceway", the track was designed to host both Formula One and Moto GP races.

Vitaly Petrov became Russia's first Formula One driver in 2010, when he joined Renault, adding further momentum to the project. Bernie Ecclestone expressed a desire to see Formula 1 travel to Russia at a circuit in or near Moscow or at the resort city of Sochi, which later secured the rights to host the race. Plans were unveiled for a 5.5km circuit to be run in and around the site of the 2014 Olympic Village on the Black Sea coast, with a deal in place for seven years, from 2014 to 2020.

Winners of the Russian Grand Prix
Events which were not part of the Formula One World Championship are indicated by a pink background.