RIO DE JANEIRO, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Formula One officials have raised the prospect of staging the Brazilian Grand Prix in Rio de Janeiro, according to a report in Brazil's O Globo newspaper on Friday.
F1 commercial operations director Sean Bratches wrote to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Rio state governor Wilson Witzel and city mayor Marcelo Crivella to seek meetings with their representatives "in person or by telephone", the newspaper said.
It added that Crivella had also been contacted by German racing circuit design company Tilke and Dorna Sports, the commercial rights holder for MotoGP.
Brazilian government officials are understood to be open to the prospect of bringing Formula One to Rio. However the city currently lacks a suitable track and would need major funding to develop a proposed circuit in the western neighborhood of Deodoro.
The Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix is currently held at Sao Paulo's Interlagos, which is contracted to stage the event until 2022.
Interlagos was Brazil's first Grand Prix home in the 1970s before losing its host status to Rio de Janeiro's Jacarepagua circuit in 1981.
The event returned to Interlagos in 1990 and has remained there since.
