Vettel drives the future Russian GP track in Sochi

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Sebastian Vettel has had an early look at the future home of the Russian Grand Prix.

The video above shows Vettel driving the Sochi track, which is still under construction, yesterday. The inaugural Russian Grand Prix is expected to be held in November next year

Vettel was encouraged by the the layout of the new track: “I think by the looks of it, by the drawing, I think it could be a very interesting and challenging track with some fast corners and hopefully plenty of places to overtake so the racing is quite exciting.”

Pictures: Vettel drives the Russian Grand Prix track in Sochi

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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43 comments on “Vettel drives the future Russian GP track in Sochi”

  1. Well that video ended quite abruptly.

    I don’t know much about Sochi, but when I hear “Street Circuit” I kind of expect there to actually be a city there…

    1. @nick-uk – The city is being built. And it’s not like Korea, where the government funded the construction of a circuit in the middle of nowhere in the vain hopes of triggering growth in the region. The Sochi circuit winds through one of the Sochi Olympic Precincts (the other is up in the mountains), the stage of the 2014 Winter Olympics. All those buildings in the background are Olympic venues.

  2. Nice noise from that car, brutal front end though.

    1. Looks a lot like Mazda’s new front and rear end.

      1. And Lexus are starting to use a very similar grill shape.

  3. I have only ever seen Infinity cars at the Aus GP, and I think we got a dealership this year. I’m curious, how popular are they over there in Europe?

    1. Never seen one in my life. I live in London.

      1. because all you know is Range rover

      2. I think there’s a guy who lives in Switzerland who has one or two of them. Word is he’s usually out driving a much faster car with a Renault engine, but the Infinity big-wigs like him enough to give him their car for free.

    2. A month ago I saw one in Genk (Belgium). I was sitting in the bus when suddenly we got overtaken by one. It was the first time I’ve seen one in my life and frankly it just shows you how not so popular they are in Europe.

    3. thatscienceguy
      23rd April 2013, 13:49

      It’s an American brand (division of Nissan-Renault), their sponsorship of RB is part of their attempt to crack into the worldwide markets.

      1. Japanese.

        1. No, American as thatscienceguy said, in that it is Nissan’s luxury brand for sale in America most predominantly. Infiniti don’t even sell in Japan, not least because many of their models are already sold there as Nissans.

          1. Just a s Lexus, it is a Japanese brand made with the intent of conquering the US market.
            In Romania there are quite a few Infiniti cars, so I am surprised to hear they are doing so bad in other countries of Europe.

        2. It was created for the US market. Infiniti is for Nissan what Lexus is for Toyota. It’s very popular in America, Arab countries, parts of Asia and Africa. No very popular in Europe, I don’t recall ever seeing an Infiniti in Europe.

          1. I know a guy who lives in Sweden who has one, but apart from that I’ve never seen/known of anyone having one.

    4. I’ve only ever seen one in Scotland. A couple of weeks back in Glasgow. Maybe it was DC! :P

    5. In Romania you’ll find Infiniti everywhere, especially SUVs.

    6. As @jcost said, Infiniti is popular here in the US and has been for quite some time. It’s also one of the only brands here that uses F1 in its advertising, which is something I’d like to see more of in the future!

    7. I live in Warsaw, and I see the FX50 model couple of times a week. Even today I’ve seen one on the way to school. This model is pretty popular here in Poland. Surprised to hear they are rare in the rest of Europe.

      1. I see the occasional one in the UK. They do’t stand out so much that I’d ever pay them much attention though.

    8. @stretch – I hardly ever see them on the road (I sometimes travel around the Glasgow area) but we have an Infiniti dealership in Braehead (which is basically a retail park) so obviously they are trying to expand their brand as that’s popped up in the last couple of years! @calum I’ve not seen many more!

    9. A white Infinity sport coupe here in Reims, France – city of worldwide champagne.

    10. They are pretty popular in the Middle East. There are loads on the road in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

  4. ShaneB457 (@shaneb12345678910)
    23rd April 2013, 13:28

    As I’ve been studying russian for about two years, I’m really happy that a russian GP will happen in the near future. To be honest, the track looks quite interesting, especially the fast left hander but I suppose like all tracks, we wont see if the track will encourage overtaking until cars actually drive on it.

  5. Nice that he drove it in a car with such fantastic racing pedigree.

    1. come to think of it: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/formula-1-2014-russian-gp-go-ahead-november-133109483.html

      Good for the winterolympic players that wanna enjoy an F1 show, but…What if it really snows there? Could they possibly remove the snow from the track to the side? Could we then see perhaps a real rally-F1 race?

      1. David not Coulthard (@)
        23rd April 2013, 18:03

        No! We’ll probably see this, though

        1. Lol, should be interesting, martin brundle: the race is apperantly red flagged, seems like there was a pinguin on the circuit. That’s a new one!

      2. I think this was discussed and actually Sochi isn’t that cold apparently due to it’s more southerly location. That would be very interesting though!

  6. Nice to see the World Champion doing his homework even before this track has been confirmed in the calendar.

    1. He drove the proposed New Jersey/New York City track as well, also before it was confirmed…and look how that turned out.

      1. DRS-ed by Hamilton.

  7. petebaldwin (@)
    23rd April 2013, 16:20

    Not sure about the track. Mainly 80-100 degree bends so not sure if this will allow for much overtaking. Fingers crossed I’ll be wrong but it just doesn’t look exciting….

  8. So err, it’s an Infiniti advert?

  9. It looks so sober over there and the car is ugly.

  10. So its a rallycross grand prix :)

  11. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    23rd April 2013, 22:38

    Is all that water from the construction or it rains like in a forest there?

    1. I believe it’s just an unusually-heavy downpour.

  12. Seems pretty early to be having promotional events in Sochi don’t you think. I know RBR have a history of doing these promotional videos (they did one in Korea with karun Chandhok driving round the track before the proper tarmac surface was laid and again in Austin before the race last year with DC driving the circuit which was all dirt at the time). Those were quite good teasers because (a) Chandhok is a bit of a fans favorite and (b) DC isa fan favorite and the concept was pretty unique. The Sochi run just seemed like, well, like driving a rubbish looking SUV round a grim, wet, Russian building site.

  13. In South Africa, I have seen only 2 on the road.
    I must say that the pictures I have seen on the internet of the Infiniti Fx Vettel Edition are simply stunning.
    Remember also that Vettel is the Director of Performance at Infiniti.

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