This year's Brazilian race will be held at Interlagos, with the new name of "Sao Paulo Gp" after the project to build a new circuit in the outskirts of Rio has failed. 

The new venue was supposed to be located in Deodoro, especially in  a former military base that hosted a number of events during the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, including basketball, rugby and mountain biking. Rio's track would have been the first carbon-zero circuit, and the original project included the development of a sustainability and environmental protection centre to educate the population.

However, the making of the track implied the distruction of part of the nearby Camboata forest area, strongly adversed by environmentalists, regardless of the promises of replacing every displanted tree both in the area and in other parts of the town.

Its project, backed by Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, had to be approved first by the State Institute of the Environment (INEA) and then by the State Environmental Control Commission (CECA), but receiving a positive verdict has proved to be so difficult for former F1 CEO Chase Carey, that in the end he decided to deal with another promotion company, not linked to the Brazilian government. 

Eduardo Paes, mayor of Rio de Janeiro, supported by the Green Party, shortly after his settlement in November, had declared his disapproval of the project. 
Yesterday Eduardo Cavaliere, Rio's secretary of the environment, has declared that the project of building a race track in that area of Rio will not go ahead and that he had written to Inea in order to formally verify the archivation of the licensing process for the track.

Seven-times World Champion Lewis Hamilton, known for his support to ambiental issues and his plant-based lifestyle, had previously expressed his dislike for the idea and advised to keep in calendar the Interlagos circuit: " I heard it is potentially going to be a sustainable race, but the most sustainable thing you can do is not tear down any trees. I don’t think it’s a smart move. There is a global crisis with deforestation."