Grand Prix, pozhalusta

One such story is Bernie Ecclestone's desire for a Russian Grand Prix.

The earliest mention I've found of a Russian GP is a 1913 event held in St. Petersburg, and won by Russian driver G. Suvorin, who was behind the wheel of a Benz 55/150 hp. The following year saw a May event – also held in St. Petersburg – and won by German driver Willy Scholl. The First World War prevented a third event, and I imagine that Lenin and Co. would have judged motor-racing a frivolous diversion from the pursuit of land, bread, and freedom.

By the early 1980s, the political landscape in Russia was changing. Glasnost and perestroika were on the horizon, and Bernie Ecclestone was beginning to consider the possibility of staging a Formula 1 race behind the Iron Curtain. The provisional calendar for the 1983 F1 World Championship listed a Moscow event after 1982 talks between Ecclestone and Leonid Brezhnev were deemed to have been successful. In the end the deal came to nothing and in 1986 Hungary became the first socialist country to host a Grand Prix.

Never a man to give up on a plan, Ecclestone has often pushed for a Russian Grand Prix. In 2001, following a $100 million deal between Tom Walkinshaw and Moscow bigwigs to build an F1-spec circuit on Nagatino Island, the F1 supremo predicted a Russian GP within two to three years. In the years since, various local governments have announced plans for tracks in and around both Moscow and St. Petersburg. Some of these attempt have been sanctioned by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Earlier today I got a phone call from a source in Russia who had just been driven past Nagatino Island, which had been pointed out to him as the site of the future Russian Grand Prix, to be sponsored by Lukoil, Russia's largest oil company. Apparently preparations are already underway in Moscow for a visit from Ecclestone later this month, and it is believed the subject of a Russian GP is the only item on the agenda.

The question is, where would it be held? Nagatino could be a likely contender, sure. Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a successful island circuit, and would be a good model to follow. Plans are probably still knocking about from the Walkinshaw effort, and the logistics have been given due consideration on at least one prior occasion. As both capital city and a major transport hub, Moscow seems like it would be the ideal location for a Russian event.

But Putin thinks otherwise. A St. Petersburg boy through and through, the prime minister is widely believed to want to see a return to power of the old Imperial capital. The Constitutional Court is now based there, and there has been talk – from Putin – of relocating the Federal Assembly.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also hails from the city formerly known as Leningrad, and recent years have seen heavy investment in local infrastructure. Billions have been spent on transport, and big business has followed. One of those businesses is oil giant Lukoil, which has been a key player in recent St. Petersburg investments. The same Lukoil my source was told would be sponsoring a future F1 race at Moscow's Nagatino Island.

So will Moscow or St. Petersburg play host to the Russian Grand Prix? If you let past experience be your guide, it's a moot point – nothing will happen. But past talk wasn't happening in the context of a Russian driver lining up on the grid. Now that Russians have a driver of their own to cheer, there is more of a reason to pursue a Grand Prix. Locals will buy tickets to support the team, and local businesses are more likely to get involved in underwriting construction costs and developing the enterprise. If Lukoil were to sponsor the GP, the increase in brand awareness among F1's 600 million fans could benefit their 6,000-odd petrol stations worldwide.

Many of the more jaded F1 fans believe Russia is Bernie's desperate trump card, the empty threat of a new locale issued whenever one of the legacy tracks is beginning to get a bit frayed around the edges. I am not one of them.

Sure, the ability to wield as a the threat the prospect of a Russian addition to the calendar might have been an added bonus, but for a man as interested in profit as Bernie, you simply can't deny the allure of a new market. Especially not when that new market has close to 150 million members, many of whom have a sizeable disposable income and are attracted to the glamour and excitement F1 has made synonymous with its brand.

So will this attempt at Russian Grand Prix bear fruit, or will the zombie lurch around forevermore? It seems to me that the best way of killing the beast for once and for all is to get the race on the calendar for once and for all. After all, it was giving races to Turkey and China that killed them off as Grand Prix rumours. Or destinations, for that matter.

Author: Kate Walker