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$65m investment saved the Brazilian GP

17/10/2014
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Brazil had to spend millions on upgrading the ageing Interlagos circuit or risk losing its place on the formula one calendar.

Interlagos-Brazil-GridThat is the claim of Sao Paulo mayor Fernando Haddad, after inspecting the first phase of $65 million improvements to the popular venue this week. The biggest change ahead of next month’s Brazilian grand prix, set to be the penultimate round of the 2014 world championship, is a full resurfacing of the asphalt.

But by the 2015 edition, F1 teams will be housing themselves in a completely new pit and paddock complex. Haddad is quoted by the Spanish news agency EFE as saying a federal government programme funded the improvements. “If it were not for the (programme), we would be in a very delicate and serious risk of losing this race to another city,” he said.

Brazil’s Globo also quoted him as saying: “It is the biggest reform since 1990 because we were at risk of losing F1 to another Latin American cities like Buenos Aires.” And Haddad was quoted as saying by Totalrace: “We were at a delicate moment because the track is loved by drivers and the teams, but there was a technological gap.”

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