Formula 1 is to leave Interlagos after 2019 and move to a new venue, president Jair Bolsonaro has revealed.
The Autodromo Carlos Pace in Sao Paulo has been the sport’s permanent home for the Brazilian Grand Prix since 1990 and has held races as far back as 1972.
However, like many classic venues, Interlagos has struggled to keep up financially and recent problems with security had also brought the race’s future into question.
Rather than leave F1’s home in South America, it is returning to a former host city in Rio de Janeiro at a brand new circuit that will be built in the Deodoro district over the coming year.
“The management of F1 has decided to maintain a Grand Prix in Brazil, but Sao Paulo has become impractical because of the event’s public financial support and the debt that exists over there,” Bolsonaro told reporters on Wednesday.
“The new racetrack will be built in six or seven months. The hotel sector will be happy and the state economy as well since it will be six or seven thousand jobs generated through the project.
“It is good for both Rio de Janeiro and Brazil.”
F1 has raced in Rio before at the former Jacarepagua circuit, but that venue was demolished as part of the Olympics back in 2016.
Bolsonaro has also announced the new racetrack will be named in honour of Brazil’s most famous driver, Ayrton Senna.
