Monday October 21st, 2002

Moscow's mayor has blamed Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone for the failure to bring Grand Prix motor racing to the Russian capital, saying the conditions he wanted to impose would have left the city with no more than "engine smoke".

"We also wanted to stage the Formula One Grand Prix," mayor Yuri Luzhkov was quoted as saying by Russian news agency RIA today after Ecclestone signed a deal with Shanghai to host Grands Prix in the Chinese city from 2004 to 2010.

"But he (Ecclestone) wanted to keep all the rights for the event - ticketing, television, advertising - which would leave us with only engine smoke," said the Moscow mayor, who was visiting the Grand Prix circuit in the Italian city of Monza.

"That's why the negotiations failed."

Moscow looked a strong candidate to join Formula One racing just seven months ago when Ecclestone came to the Russian capital to sign a contract with Luzhkov. Ecclestone expected the first race to take place in Moscow as early as 2004 at a circuit still to be built in Nagatino, a few kilometres southeast of the city centre.

But a signing ceremony was put on hold at the last minute after the two sides could not agree on a proposed seven-year television deal, valued at around $250 million. The two parties said then they expected the deal to be signed within a month, but further problems emerged.

Last month, vice-president of the Russian Motor Racing Federation (FAST) Igor Yermilin told Reuters that the Moscow Grand Prix "looks to be dead for now", blaming the overall failure on the Luzhkov side.

Published at 14:34:30 GMT