Formula One Executive Chairman and CEO Chase Carey is visiting the Russian seaside resort city of Sochi ahead of the 2019 Russian Grand Prix this weekend. In an interview with the TASS Russian News Agency, Carey reveals the latest on the F1 race stage in Sochi and its prospects, along with the calendar for the 2020 season and his plans to widen Formula One’s global horizons, the pinnacle of world motor sport.

— Do you enjoy coming here to Sochi for the F1 race and do you think this Grand Prix is unique as far as its geolocation goes?

— Certainly, it’s unique and I do enjoy coming here. It’s a beautiful spot sitting here with the Black Sea on one side and the mountains on the other side. It is clearly a beautiful facility that’s been built, with impressive facilities for ultimate purposes all around and it’s an important market for us. We got Russian drivers on the track and I am looking forward to continue to grow this sport here in Russia.

— Does it mean that there are no threats that the contract for the F1 Russian Grand Prix in Sochi, which has been extended until 2025, could be cancelled in advance?

— Our goal is to build long-term partnerships and as you have said, we have an agreement in place for a number of years to come. It is our goal to continue this – to build on the partnership even beyond that date, and again, this is an important market for us. We think that this market can continue to grow and we look forward to building on it.

— Is there a chance that the F1 race in Sochi could be moved to another location in the country, to another racing circuit licensed by the FIA?

— Our agreement is here in Sochi and our priority is to make sure that we continue to build and strengthen the event in Sochi. As we have said, we have an agreement in place for a number of years to come and that is really priority Number One for us. When I said about the growth this year – the trends have been positive in terms of building crowd enthusiasm for the race. Certainly, this is our priority. We are always open to having conversations on what the future could bring, but priority one is building and growing the race here in Sochi.

— The calendar for the F1 World Championship has expanded to 22 races for the next season. In your opinion, how many races should there be on the calendar?

— We are adding one race, going from 21 to 22 races. We have always said that our first priority is quality, not quantity. We want to make sure that every race we have - every of the 21 or every of the 22 - is a race that we are excited about, that the fans are excited about and that we think can be a great location for the race, as well as a great location for fans.

We have said that we want destination cities or destination countries that are really exciting and energized. There is not a magic number. We have a pretty full calendar, we don’t have a magic number of races. We judge each race on its merits. We want to make sure that if we add a race it is really bringing something extra and special. Next year, we’ll have two new locations and one is truly not new. Vietnam, Hanoi will be truly new. Asia is a very important market for us so it certainly broadens our reach in the Asian market. Zandvoort is not new, and we are returning to Zandvoort after many years. It is part of our history - and history is very important for Formula One. The enthusiasm for that race has been great and I think they have literally a three-year agreement and they have already sold out for all the three years in almost six months away from the race. So, I think that our priority is making sure if we add a race to the calendar, it’s bringing something extra and special to the sport and to the fans of the sport.

— Any plans to expand further into the Asian region?

— I think Vietnam gives a pretty good spread. We have interests from other places in Asia, we have interests from other places around the world. We are always talking to potential parties, who have interest in the sport, and I think it’s important for us to continue with this engagement. I think that we feel with Vietnam in place, with Japan, China, Singapore and Australia - which is certainly not a part of Asia - we have a pretty good mix. But, we certainly appreciate the interest from a number of other countries and locations in Asia that we are talking to. I think we feel that we are in a good place right now. Asia is a very important market for us. We think there is obviously many ways Asia will be structured out playing a uniquely important role in the world, and the driving force in the world, so it is an important market for us to grow and this market has a lot of growth potential for us.

— Let’s shift now from Asia to the United States, are there any more options for holding F1 races across the country, besides the current location in Austin, Texas?

— We are engaged with a couple locations about a potential second race. Our race in Texas is a great race, a very important and unique race for us, and we think we can add up another, some sort of a signature race on top of Texas in the market, which is a big enough market. We have talked a lot about Asia, China in particular. We feel that the US is a market, which has real growth potential for us and we think that a second race to go with Texas would provide us with a bigger footprint in a broader engagement with the fans there in the United States. We are engaged in some locations that we have talked about and I think that cities that would fit are like Miami and Las Vegas and other types of cities, which with Austin would be exciting locations for us.

— Do you root for a particular driver or a particular team in F1?

— I just root for a good race! I want exciting and dramatic races and that’s all I root for. I gotta cheer for them all [F1 racers].

— What if it rains this weekend here during the Russian Grand Prix?

— It’s probably not best for the live fans, but in many ways for the racing itself it certainly can create exciting races and unexpected moments. The rainy race we had was in Germany and probably it was one of the most interesting races we had this year with a lot of unexpected and dramatic moments. So, probably it’s not the best for the live fans, I hope that for them maybe it rains and then stops just before the race, so during the drive we have a wet track. A wet track can certainly bring a lot of surprises to the race.

This interview was conducted by TASS correspondent Yevgeny Ionov