Sao Paulo Mayor, Bruno Covas, has criticised Formula 1’s decision to cancel this year’s Brazilian Grand Prix.
On Friday, it was confirmed all four races in the Americas would not go ahead due to the “fluid” nature of the Covid-19 in the countries where Grand Prix’s were set to take place.
Brazil, in particular, has seen the second-worst number of cases behind the United States, with over 2.3m recorded so far, yet despite that, the Mayor claims the situation would have improved enough for F1 to race at Interlagos safely.
“We, over the past few weeks, have sent all the data to the organisation of the event showing that the reality of the city of São Paulo and the State is quite different from the Brazilian reality,” Covas was quoted by MotorsportWeek.
“The projection shows that, in November, we will be in a much better situation than the European countries where there are Grands Prix.”
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Even so, F1 has decided not to take the risk by travelling across the Atlantic and instead replaced the races with three alternative venues at the Nurburgring, Portimao and Imola.
The only major downside to losing Brazil this year is the possibility that it means F1 has visited Interlagos for the final time, at least in the short-term, with speculation of the new Deodoro circuit in Rio hosting the GP from 2021.
Sao Paulo officials though are continuing to talk with F1 bosses in the hope that the historic venue, which has held the race every season since 1991, will continue to do so for years to come.
