International Olympic Committee spokesman Andrew Mitchell has expressed concern over the 2014 Winter Olympics coinciding with the inaugural Russian Grand Prix in Sochi.
Mitchell believes it will be ‘impossible’ for the city to host two events of such scale and, as a result, has asked the organisers of the grand prix for thorough documentation detailing the construction schedule.
“We want to ensure that both events will take place as best as possible for all parties involved,” Mitchell is quoted by Sovetsky Sport.
“Nevertheless, we believe that it is impossible to organize two such events of this magnitude in the same year.”
Igor Ermilin, Russia’s vice-president of Motorsports and Tourism, says the move is purely to ensure the Olympics don’t fail.
“The IOC wants to make sure that the Olympics won’t fail. That’s why they are worried.”
If worst came to worse, Ermilin says he foresees no issue in delaying the first Russian GP by a year to avoid any issues which may arise from hosting the two events at the same time – although such a decision wouldn’t go down well with Mr Ecclestone.
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