It has emerged that Vladimir Putin nearly did not receive a pass for his country’s grand prix as the sport’s new owners Liberty Media withdrew several passes including one destined for the Russian president.
The problem has now been sorted out by Liberty Media and Putin will receive VIP treatment to the event he championed several years ago.
Sportsmail reports: It is unclear why the passes were ever withheld. Whatever the reason, it is ironic seeing how Liberty, the American conglomerate who recently took over from Bernie Ecclestone, came in with a promise to throw open the paddock gates to greater numbers.
Just four races into their regime, Liberty seem to have modified their much- trumpeted, if rash, policy.
The pass fiasco is even more ironic given that Putin, one of the world’s most powerful men, would hardly need a lanyard and plastic badge to walk into the Sochi Autodrom he built at an estimated cost of $200-million.
His government pays some $50 million a year to stage the race in a deal struck with Ecclestone, a friend and associate of a decade or more.
Ecclestone and the race organisers both declined to make any comment about Putin’s accreditation, while a spokesman for Liberty said that ‘all passes requested by the authorities have been issued’.
Liberty Media’s Formula One chief executive Chase Carey, who declined the opportunity to clarify the situation, is happy to meet Putin at the track on Sunday despite the West’s sanctions against Russia.
Read the full story at GRAND PRIX 247
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