Domenicali: Flexible F1 will replace Sochi 'with no problem at all'

Formula 1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali says the sport's flexibility in adding an unscheduled venue to its calendar will ensure that the Russian Grand Prix is replaced "with no problem at all".

F1 announced on Friday that it will not be racing next September along the shores of the Black Sea in Sochi as a result of Russia's unilateral decision this week to invade Ukraine and wage war against its neighboring country.

Grand Prix racing's 2022 schedule has therefore been reduced from 23 to 22 races, but on a conference call with Wall Street analysts on Friday following the release of F1's 2021 financial results, Domenicali expressed a confident view on the sport's ability to replace the September 25 event.

"Talking specifically about the situation this year, because of the Russian situation, I just can confirm to you that we have already proven in the last couple of years to be very flexible and not to have any problem in finding possible solutions for that," said the F1 boss.

"So I can just confirm, that could be an option for this year with no problem at all."

Oddly, Sochi's promoter issued a statement of its own after F1's announcement, claiming that its race could still go ahead this year as scheduled.

"The agreement between the official Russian Grand Prix promoter ANO 'ROSGONKI' and FORMULA 1 is suspended due to force majeure events," the statement read.

"The purchased tickets are not cancelled – there is no need to get refunds for them now because it is still possible that the round will take place and will be held as previously scheduled."

• Read also: Formula 1 scraps Russian GP from 2022 calendar

On Friday's conference call, Domenicali highlighted the strong demand from promoters that could lead to F1 boosting its calendar in the future.

"Due to the great success that F1 is having the possibility of having new races in the future is still very big," he said.

"With regard to possible venues for the future we can just say that there are a lot of discussions going on. We need to make a lot of choices for the strategic markets that we believe are the right ones for Formula 1.

"But for sure we can expand the calendar because technically speaking, as you know, we can go up to 25, that is written in our regulations, the Concorde Agreement, and the teams will follow our vision on that.

"Something we don’t have to forget is this year will be 23 races, the highest number of races in the history of Formula 1.

"So I think that we can watch that in the right way, taking the right decisions. We are not in the rush for that, it’s just a matter of tuning in all the different possibilities that we have in front of us."

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