How Bernie Ecclestone Showed Flexibility in the Sochi Grand Prix Contract Negotiations

Former CEO of the Grand Prix of Russia promoter company «Rosgonki,» **Alexey Titov**, during a conversation with **Alexey Popov** on the First&Red page on **VK**, reminisced about the signing of the contract for the event in Sochi.

**Popov**: Can you confirm that each subsequent year we had to pay nearly 10% more than the previous year?

**Titov**: No, look. It’s very straightforward. Bernie [Ecclestone] didn’t become the king of motorsport for no reason. He knows his craft exceptionally well. So when I read the first signed contract in 2010, the terms were…

**Popov**: So that’s how it was.

**Titov**: More or less.

**Popov**: In the fifth year, were we paying one and a half times more than in the first?

**Titov**: No.

**Popov**: Well, if it was +10% every year.

**Titov**: That’s the point. You conduct the first Grand Prix and say, “Bernie, what 10%? Let’s make it 1%. What’s your inflation – 0.5%? Okay, let’s go with 0.55%.”

**Popov**: So you could have a discussion with Bernie.

**Titov**: Of course, and that’s where the fundamental difference lies between working with Bernie and working with **Liberty Media** [the holding company that owns the commercial rights to Formula 1 since late 2016]. Bernie wasn’t a corporation. This was his brainchild, and he handled it as he saw fit.

Mazepin showcased the helmet design for the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Russia: