The Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix has been cancelled following a court decision that the event would be detrimental to the city of Sao Paulo.
The Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix has been cancelled following a court decision that the event would be detrimental to the city of Sao Paulo.
Judge João Andres de Vincenzo suspended the contract for the race and he confirmed the city of Sao Paulo’s argument that the race would be harmful to its budget and the cost of hosting the event outweighed the benefits to the area. The event was supposed to take place on October 24 next year at Interlagos.
When cancelling the event, Judge Vincenzo instituted a R122 000 daily penalty, effective 30 days after the official publishing of the ruling, in case the promoters decided to ignore the court ruling and continue to host the race.
There was apparently a political battle to have the race moved from its current venue, Interlagos, to the former host circuit at Rio de Janeiro.
One problem with the Rio circuit, though, is that mayor Cesar Maia has stated that the venue will be the athletes’ village for the city’s Olympic bid in 2012 and would be ready in time for the 2007 Panamerican Games.
Furthermore, the dispute over tobacco advertising that marred this year’s event (and was only resolved at the eleventh hour) is very likely to damage its future attempts to remain on the calendar.
