Questionable maintenance of the Sao Paulo GP

The future of the Brazilian GP is uncertain after referee Emilio Migliano Neto suspended a new contract according to which the race was to be held at Interlagos.

Last year, there was a competition between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro for the rights to host the Formula 1 race. Rio de Janeiro proposed a new track in the suburb of Deodoro. Even the Brazilian president supported the change, but the plan was called off after opposition from locals on environmental grounds. As a result, Formula 1 signed a new five-year contract to race at Interlagos, and the race was renamed the Sao Paulo GP, with a new promoter, the company Brasil Motorsport which is owned by the group Mubadala based in Abu Dhabi.

But yesterday, a city judge suspended the new contract after a public petition expressed concern about non-transparency and costs to the state. According to court records, the deal requires about $ 18,5 million in public funds to cover the race over the agreed five years. This was not approved by the local government because only money for the reconstruction of the Interlagos track was previously approved. It also states that there has clearly been a breach of the law requiring tenders for contracts of this type to be called before an agreement is reached.

"Hiring a private company without opening a bidding process with the aforementioned high value, in the midst of the global health crisis, represents a real deviation and will bring huge losses to the treasury."

The judge has now ordered the new proposers to submit all relevant documents within five days to prove that the contract meets the necessary transparency standards.

"These facts undoubtedly reveal that, at least at this stage, the principles of advertising and transparency are explicitly violated. It is necessary to suspend the execution of the contract in question in order to assess whether there are effective resources to cover the costs. "

Emilio Migliano Neto

Last year’s Brazil GP also had to be canceled due to the CoVid-19 virus pandemic, and Brazil currently has the third largest number of cases with nearly 8,2 million people infected.