Russian Grand Prix Deal Delayed Again

The signing of a contract for a planned Russian Formula One Grand Prix in Moscow has been delayed again, local organisers said on Tuesday.

Russian news agency Interfax quoted a Moscow deputy mayor as saying that the signing had been put off because the structure of the planned deal had changed.

"We want to lift the burden from the city budget and put responsibility for financing the project completely on the investor," Interfax quoted Iosif Ordzhonikidze as saying.

Ordzhonikidze said the construction project was valued at $1.5 billion, while the purchase of promotional and television rights for a seven-year period from 2004 to 2011 would call for another $250 million.

Last month, a signing ceremony involving Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone and Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov was put on hold at the last minute after what Ecclestone described as "differences in interpretation". The two sides said they expected the deal to be signed within four weeks.

"The deal was agreed a year ago and there is no going back on the agreement, it's only a postponement," Ecclestone said at the time.

He expected the first race to take place in the Russian capital as early as 2004 at a circuit, which has yet to be built, just a few kilometres southeast of the city centre. But it appeared on Tuesday that the deal had hit a snag.

"I simply don't know when the signing could take place," Maria Lekukh, a spokesperson for the Russian motor sport federation (RAF), said on Tuesday. But a source close to negotiations told Reuters that it could take weeks if not months before progress was made.

"The differences are just too big to be resolved overnight," the source said.