Festivities have a hollow ring for drivers at Sochi in wake of Suzuka and Bianchi accident

Everyone involved in Formula One appreciates the significance of a ground-breaking race in a new part of the world. There is a cruel incongruity then that, inside the Sochi Autodrome’s magnificent and immaculate F1 paddock, nobody really wants to be here.

Fernando Alonso, right, says that the weekend has been rough and will ‘emotionally’ get difficult as thoughts linger on Jules Bianchi. Laszlo Balogh / Reuters

Bernie Ecclestone has been waiting for this weekend for more than three decades, while Russian president Vladimir Putin has been waiting for 13 years.

The Marussia Formula One team have been talking of a revived Russian Grand Prix since the marque was launched in 2011.

Everyone involved in the sport appreciates the significance of a groundbreaking race in a new part of the world.

There is a cruel incongruity then that, inside the Sochi Autodrome’s magnificent and immaculate F1 paddock, nobody really wants to be here.

Racing appears an afterthought among a sombre collection of motorsport figures still struggling to deal with the events of last week’s Japanese Grand Prix.

It was on Suzuka's rain-swept track last Sunday that Jules Bianchi, a French driver with the Marussia team, collided at high speed with a tractor that had been deployed to recover Adrian Sutil's stranded Sauber.

An unconscious Bianchi was taken immediately to a nearby hospital where he had brain surgery and remains in intensive care in a critical but stable condition.

With the F1 fraternity reconvening yesterday for the first time since the accident, what should have been excitement at exploring a new territory and interacting with a fresh fan base has been overshadowed by desperate thoughts for a friend and colleague.

Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso grew close to Bianchi during the 25-year-old Frenchman’s time in the Ferrari Driver Academy.

Both were clearly emotional in their pre-race news briefing, with Massa, who fractured his skull when he was hit in the head by a loose spring at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, calling last weekend’s contest “the worst race of my life”.

“It’s a really bad race, worse than the race of my accident, which I didn’t remember anyway,” said Massa, who visited Bianchi at the hospital on Sunday night. “It’s a very difficult weekend for all of us.”

Alonso said: “Obviously all of our thoughts are with Jules. All of our minds are there because we have huge respect for our work, but when there are big accidents there are no words to describe how bad you can feel.

“It was a tough weekend and we are here for what will be an emotionally very difficult weekend again.”

During an open pit-lane event at Sochi Autodrome, thousands of merchandise-clad Russian spectators displayed enthusiasm for a race that has been a long time in the making.

Sergey Vorobyev, the race promoter, said 53,000 of 55,000 tickets have been sold and organisers are considering increasing the capacity to 75,000 for next year.

Such news will be welcomed by Ecclestone, who first pushed for a Moscow race in 1982.

The “Grand Prix of the Soviet Union” even appeared on the provisional race calendar the following year, before being removed because of bureaucratic issues.

In 2001, Putin gave his support to a race in St Petersburg, but that also fell through when commercial troubles arose.

Yet Daniil Kvyat, the only Russian driver in the field, said he had “mixed feelings” as he prepared to finally compete in his country’s first F1 grand prix.

“On one hand, as you see here, the atmosphere – all our thoughts are still about Japan and I think it will be like this for a while,” the 20-year-old Toro Rosso driver said.

“On the other hand, of course, it’s my home grand prix and, around 10 years ago when I was starting my career, we couldn’t have even dreamed about this. Now it is becoming reality.”

In a sport that has become increasingly safe over the past two decades, Bianchi’s accident is the most serious since the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, where two separate incidents resulted in the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger.

Kvyat was just one week old at the time and encapsulates a new generation of drivers who have never known F1 to be a fatal sport.

Sebastian Vettel was seven and has since won four world titles and become a director on the Grand Prix Drivers Association. He spoke yesterday with pragmatism.

“We’ve been very fortunate that in our generation there have been crashes with limited outcomes,” Vettel said.

“Obviously last week reminded us all of how apparent the risk is and how quickly things can change, but if you look at the type of accidents we have had in the past couple of years, how violent they looked and fortunately nearly nothing happened, it shows that improvement has been made.

“That’s a great feeling, but you should never lose the respect for what you do.”

The cars will take to the track for the first time on Friday for two sessions of free practice and the distraction from uncomfortable thoughts will be welcomed.

“Maybe it will get a little bit better because at least you are working,” Massa said. “At least you have something to think about, some issue to put inside your brain.”

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