SOCHI, September 30. /TASS, Yevgeny Ionov/. The FIA Formula One Russian Grand Prix is growing each year by attracting more racing fans and enthusiasts, while F1 management keeps working to build up the attendance and raise a level of the racing competitiveness, F1 Managing Director of Motorsports Ross Brawn told TASS.

The Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi hosted the Formula One Russia Grand Prix for the sixth time this year on September 27-29.

"The attendance here is very strong, the crowds are very good and the enthusiasm has broadened," Brawn said in an interview with TASS. "When I come out of a hotel every morning I see that the fans and enthusiasts seem to get really stronger and it’s good."

"The last couple of years the racing has been a little predictable, but this year we are having a great race, because we have competitive teams," he continued.

"The competitive level between the teams is something that we are going to encourage much more in the next few years," Brawn stated. "We are working very hard to make much more competitive fields to have more drivers involved in fighting to win a race."

Team Mercedes pilots Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas finished the 2019 Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix in Sochi on Sunday in first and second places respectively, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc crossing the finish line in 3rd place.

All of the previous F1 Russian Grands Prix were won by Team Mercedes drivers, namely by Britain’s five-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton (in 2014, 2015 and 2018), his current teammate Valtteri Bottas of Finland (in 2017) and former teammate Nico Rosberg of Germany (in 2017).

Sochi Autodrom track is the only racing circuit in Russia hosting a FIA Formula One Grand Prix. Located in the Olympic Park, which hosted the 2014 Olympics, the 5,848-meter long racing circuit in the Black Sea coastal area has already successfully hosted five F1 Grand Prix races.

The contract to include Russia in the calendar of F1 racing for the 2014-2020 period was signed in 2010 in Sochi by then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and former Formula One chief executive Bernie Ecclestone. In early 2017, the contract to hold F1 racing in Russia’s Sochi was extended until 2025.

In late 2014, the Sochi Autodrom was awarded the trophy of Formula One’s best racing track of the year. The Race Promoters' Trophy is a rotating award, engraved with the names of other top F1 tracks dating from 1975.