Sunday’s Bahrain GP winner, Sebastian Vettel, traded the sunny Middle East climate for a muddy building site in Russia as he became the first Formula One driver to experience the Sochi Olympic Park Circuit.
He was joined by ex-F1 driver David Coulthard in an Infiniti FX Vettel Edition as they toured part of the track, before swapping the SUV for a pair of M37 saloons and hooning around the site.
The Sochi Olympic Park Circuit is 3.7 miles in length (5,854 km), contains 18 turns and will enable F1 cars to reach 199mph (320km/h) along its main straight. It is the third longest circuit on the Formula One calendar behind Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium and Silverstone in Britain.
Russia’s inaugural Formula One race is scheduled for 2014, after the Winter Olympics in February of that year.
Commenting on his experience, Vettel said: “It is a great privilege to be the first Formula One driver to visit the new Sochi venue.”
“After trying a section of the track in the FX Vettel Edition, I can already see it will be a fun circuit to drive in a Formula One car and the rest of the venue is very impressive. I’m really looking forward to coming back here for the Grand Prix next year.”
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