Moscow set for 2004 Grand Prix

Bernie Ecclestone has promised Moscow an F1 race

The first Russian Grand Prix will take place in the summer of 2004, Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has told the BBC.

Ecclestone was hoping to sign a deal in Moscow on Friday for the race to go ahead next year.

But the contract has not yet been finalised and a joint announcement with Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov was cancelled at the last minute.

Mayor Luzhkov confirmed: "We have postponed the signing for a month because we do not agree on several points in the contract."

Despite the delay, Ecclestone is confident that the remaining legal problems are minor and will be overcome to allow signing of the deal within a month.

High cost

Work has not yet started on the new circuit in the Russian capital, so the Grand Prix will not take place for another two years.

The site - at Nagatino on a bend in the Moskva river a few kilometres south of the city centre - is currently home to a poorly maintained park and a dumping ground for old buses.

The Moscow circuit is projected to cost more than $100m.

The BBC's Jonathan Charles says the plan is controversial, amid speculation that the lack of any restriction on advertising is a key factor behind the choice of Moscow as a venue.

Ecclestone backing

Tobacco companies will be able to sponsor teams and advertise freely at the race - an option rapidly being closed off in many other parts of the world.

On his first trip to the Russian capital last May, Ecclestone promised Moscow an F1 Grand Prix as soon as a suitable circuit was built.

"It is the FIA Formula One world championship and it's about time we had a round of this championship in Russia and, in particular in Moscow," Ecclestone, vice-president of the sport's governing body FIA, said at the time.

There are, however, plenty of top-level meetings to come before the plans are rubber stamped.

Organisers will then be facing a race against time to get the track built this year, before the hard Russian winter brings construction to a halt.