F1 News
New Rio de Janeiro mayor puts a stop to construction of new F1 circuit
- GPblog.com
The government of Rio de Janeiro announced on Monday that no new Formula 1 circuit will be built in the city. For a long time, the city hoped to host the Brazilian Grand Prix instead of Interlagos.
No Rio Grand Prix
Rio de Janeiro had wanted to take over from Sao Paulo for some time when it came to organising the Brazilian Grand Prix. But in order to organise that race, it first had to build a brand new circuit. The spot that was chosen for that was considered to be very controversial. The designated area for the track is in a forested area in a poor part of the city.
New mayor scores well with environmentalists
On Monday, environment secretary Eduardo Cavaliere announced via Twitter that the construction will not go ahead because the new mayor Eduardo Paes had instructed him not to grant the necessary environmental permits.
Mayor Paes has been mayor of Rio de Janeiro since January and has repeatedly said that he is not in favour of the project because of its environmental impact. The construction of the Rio Motor Park would require the felling of the vast majority of the 200,000 trees in the forest.