Formula 1’s Brazilian Grand Prix is set to move from Interlagos to Rio de Janeiro as soon as 2021, it’s been reported.
Following on from news of a new broadcasting rights agreement with Rio Motorsports last week, on Tuesday, a letter from outgoing F1 CEO Chase Carey to the city’s acting governor, Claudio Castro, as revealed by Motorsport.com, confirmed a deal has also been agreed to move the race back to Rio after just over 30 years.
It’s a move that’s been touted for some time after Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro first declared it would happen this year before that was pushed back as Interlagos still had a contract.
When the 2020 race was cancelled due to Covid-19, however, Liberty Media had a clear path to and is fully supportive of leaving the historic circuit for Rio because of a poor relationship with the political leadership in Sao Paulo.
Indeed, it’s claimed the last few races at Interlagos were actually free due to an arrangement reached with Bernie Ecclestone.
So why isn’t the move official? Well, this new venue at Deodoro is still currently a forest located between two favelas and locals are strongly opposed to the construction of the circuit on environmental grounds.
Evaluations are still taking place through the various authorities with an environmental impact opinion by the State Institute still being drawn up before being passed on to the Environmental Commission.
Other reports now say guarantees are being offered to replant the deforested area elsewhere in Rio, as well as efforts to make the new track F1’s first carbon-neutral racetrack with an environmental protection centre on-site.
Should building permission eventually be granted though, the timeline to be ready for a race in November 2021 is tight, making a 2022 debut perhaps more likely.
This means Interlagos may still have a path to retaining the race for one more year at least, or F1 could choose to hold the race in a different part of Rio, as the new contract with the city isn’t exclusive to Deodoro.
Either way, it does seem as though the sport is set to lose one of its most popular circuits very soon.