São Paulo F1 GP was Doria’s victory over Bolsonaro

The holding of the São Paulo GP this weekend is a letter kept up the sleeve of the governor of São Paulo, João Doria (PSDB), for the war of narratives with Jair Bolsonaro (no party) in the 2022 elections.

While Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen will continue to fight for the leadership of F1 on Sunday (14), Doria will travel through the Interlagos racetrack as the winner of a clash with the President of the Republic that lasted from 2019 to 2020.

“The renewal of the contract is a victory for São Paulo and Brazil. Interlagos is the cradle of motorsport in Brazil and Latin America. From here came some of our best drivers and legends”, says Doria to sheet. “São Paulo has been the stage of F1 for over 30 years and will continue to play this important role with world prominence.”

Mayor Bruno Covas, who died in May this year, has a large share in the governor’s victory. It was he who started, during the then GP of Brazil, in November 2018, the negotiations to extend the São Paulo contract with FOM (Formula One Management), the commercial arm of F1. He even felt frustrated when he arrived late at a press conference in which Doria was the first to announce that F1 would remain until 2025. The link with Interlagos, which has received the category since 1990, would end with the 2020 race.

Covas found himself in a crossfire when he learned that Interpub, which organized the race in Brazil, did not pay the promoter fee to the FOM during Bernie Ecclestone’s tenure. Englishman Ecclestone, a friend of Tamas Rohonyi, owner of the company, had exempted the country from 2015 to 2020.

Ecclestone sold control of FOM to the American conglomerate Liberty Media. Under the command of executive Chase Carey, the FOM required at least US$ 35 million (R$ 194 million) annually for Brazil to continue with the category. The offer was refused by Interpub.

In parallel with the difficulties in negotiating with the São Paulo authorities, Carey embarked for Rio de Janeiro shortly after Hamilton crossed the finish line at the 2018 GP and, on Monday morning (November 12th), met with the then mayor Marcelo Crivella and the state governor, Luiz Fernando Pezão.

Businessman José Antonio Soares Pereira Júnior, known as JR Pereira, director of the Rio Motorsports consortium, was also at the meeting.

In his last days in office, Pezão introduced Wilson Witzel, the governor-elect, and made himself available. Carey returned the kindness and, in a relaxed tone, told the president that when he woke up and saw the sea, he thought it would be a good thing to do F1 in Rio.

Almost three weeks later, on November 29, at around 6:00 am, Pezão was arrested at Palácio das Laranjeiras, in Operation Boca de Lobo, an offshoot of Lava Jato in the state.

The scene served as gunpowder for Covas’ team, who from the São Paulo City Hall building fired emails with the news and images of Pezão being taken by police to the FOM summit.

The then mayor of São Paulo appointed a task force, led by the municipal secretary of Tourism, Orlando Faria, not to be without F1, under the justification that the event was one of the most profitable for São Paulo, ahead, for example, of the Carnival.

“Bruno instructed me to negotiate the importance of the grand prize. That’s BRL 700 million in return for the city between services and commerce, according to a study by FGV [Fundação Getúlio Vargas]”, says Faria, currently Secretary of Housing.

The people of São Paulo imagined that, with the offer of US$ 10 million (R$ 55 million) per year, they would convince Chase. They were almost driven away. The Rio Motorsports consortium had already committed to pay US$ 65 million (R$ 360 million) – being US$ 35 million (R$ 194 million) for the race fee in Rio de Janeiro and US$ 30 million (R$ 166 million ) to acquire F1 broadcasting rights in Brazil.

Rio Motorsports had won, as the only interested party, the bid for the construction and operation for 35 years of a race track in the Deodoro region, in Rio de Janeiro. The company promised to spend, with private resources, R$ 697 million with the works of the track over the Camboatá forest.

The following month, Chase returned to Brazil and met with Witzel, Bolsonaro and senator Flávio Bolsonaro at the Palácio do Planalto. The president had signed a cooperation agreement with the aim of taking the evidence to Rio.

“The chance of having F1 from 2021 in Rio de Janeiro is practically 99%”, said Bolsonaro, after the meeting.

Allied in the 2018 election, the BolsoDoria one-two was already falling apart. The FOM, then, saw the possibility of holding an auction between Rio and São Paulo. Covas offered US$25 million (R$138 million) for the renovation, which did not include the television rights.

The FOM bowed to Rio Motorsports’ US$65 million proposal and guaranteed priority in the negotiation to Rio de Janeiro until October 31, 2020.

Interlagos ran the risk of not even saying farewell to the category with the cancellation of last year’s GP Brazil due to the pandemic. At the same time, the Rio consortium had difficulty in approving the environmental impact study (EIA) in order to start building the racetrack.

On September 14, Chase sent a letter to Governor Cláudio Castro –in place of Witzel, removed on suspicion of embezzlement of public funds– in which he said that the FOM had finalized the agreement with Rio Motorsports and would announce F1 in the city as soon as all licenses were issued by the authorities. The problem was that it was almost impossible to deliver the construction of the Deodoro racecourse in time.

The FOM, pressured by sponsors such as Heineken and Pirelli, so that Brazil would not be without the category, then satisfied itself with the US$ 25 million a year and renewed with Interlagos for five seasons. Of this amount, the City Hall is responsible for paying US$ 15 million (R$ 83 million), and the state government will pay the other US$ 10 million (R$ 55 million).

Only Heineken, which saw Brazil become its biggest market, paid FOM US$ 8 million (R$ 43 million) for the naming rights of the race in Interlagos, officially christened Formula 1 Heineken São Paulo Grand Prix.

In the final stretch of the reelection campaign, on October 24, 2020, a Saturday, Covas was making a motorcade through the Pirituba neighborhood when Faria’s phone rang. On the call, Chase asked the secretary when the contract would be signed.

The mayor celebrated with Faria, but arrived late at the press conference where Doria announced the GP São Paulo, on November 12 – three days before the first round of the municipal election in which he defeated Guilherme Boulos (PSOL).

In addition to the fee paid to the FOM, the city will transfer R$ 100 million (R$ 20 million for five years) to MC Brazil Motorsport Holding, which assumed the role that used to be from Interpub. The company will be responsible for assembling the entire structure of the event and its organization. The municipality guarantees that it did a good deal. These expenses alone amounted to at least R$ 40 million per stage.

“F1 only loses to the World Cup, the Olympics and the Super Bowl. We achieved important things. First, it will be called GP São Paulo and we will have advertising boards for the city, in addition to maintaining the race in Interlagos”, says Faria.

The Secretary of Tourism of the State informed, in a note to the sheet, that the return on public investment comes from the positive impact of the world image of São Paulo.

In return for paying the fee, the City of São Paulo won space for publicity in the race and transferred four quotas to Doria’s management, at an estimated value of R$ 8 million each.