By Newsfeed/Reuters
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro vowed on Monday, June 24th, to hold the 2021 Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix race in Rio de Janeiro after the contract with São Paulo’s Interlagos racetrack expires next year.
Bolsonaro said a yet-to-be-built private racetrack in Rio would have a capacity for 130,000 fans compared to 60,000 at the São Paulo venue.
“No one is trying to take Formula One away from São Paulo. The race will stay in Brazil, that is what counts,” Bolsonaro said at a news conference also attended by Formula One chairman Chase Carey and Rio Governor Wilson Witzel.
Carey said that nothing had been decided and he would discuss it with both cities.
Carey will meet São Paulo governor João Doria, a possible presidential candidate in 2022 who is keen to keep the race in Brazil’s largest city, on Tuesday.
He indicated that he was looking for the best venue to provide a spectacle that draws the fans and can stimulate the local economy.
“We want it to be in a destination city that captures the world’s imagination,” he said. The Brazilian Grand Prix has been held in Sao Paulo continuously since 1990 and Rio’s Jacarepaguá circuit was demolished to make way for facilities for the 2016 Olympics.
Bolsonaro, a Rio resident, said the new circuit will be built in the Deodoro sector of western Rio and be a multi-purpose facility where musical shows and other events can be held to make it profitable.
(Source: Reuters)