Williams’ Felipe Massa has said that he hopes that the Brazilian Grand Prix will remain on the Formula One calendar beyond 2016.
The 35-year-old spoke about the matter in the press conference prior to the Malaysia Grand Prix weekend as the future of the race is unexpectedly up in the air after being marked as ‘subject to confirmation’ on the provisional calendar for next season.
A race in the country has been a consistent feature on the Formula One calendar for over two decades, with the current layout of the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace at Interlagos holding a race in the sport since 1990 without interruption.
The Brazilian was initially cautious to comment on the matter because of unsurprisingly being in the dark about any negotiations over the circuit’s future.
“Well, to be honest, I think it’s very difficult to answer in a proper way,” Massa said.
“We are just racing and we don’t know what’s happened behind [the scenes] with the contracts. Sometimes you just see some pressures over a country because maybe something’s not working like Bernie – or who decides – is thinking.
“We know you always have pressures around. It’s not nice, definitely. Brazil is a part of the sport, it’s part of Formula One since a very long time so it would be really disappointing to lose a race in Brazil even if I will not be there.”
With Massa retiring at the end of the season, the 2017 grid is yet to have a Brazilian driver confirmed on it, however, Felipe Nasr is expected to be involved in negotiations for a seat at a team.
If Nasr is confirmed, the grid will feature just one Brazilian driver for the first time since the 2014 season, with only other current talent developing in the likes of Red Bull junior and Toro Rosso test driver Sergio Sette Camara.
The 2017 campaign is set to be the first season in 18 years, since 1999, that the country has not had a driver representing them on the grid who has won a race in the sport.
Massa said that he would be ‘supporting’ Brazil in finding new talent.
“But I will be supporting my country for new Brazilian drivers, so I know the situation in Brazil is not really easy for the moment economically, so this is maybe some fact around this.”
However, he hopes that this is just a tactic for negotiations around the circuit and that the venue has a safe place in Formula One.
“But you never know, maybe this is just some pressure but maybe this can happen as we saw it happened last year in Germany. I hope it will not happen to Sao Paulo, Interlagos.
“It’s also one of the most fun and great races to watch so I hope the best for them, for my country, for Brazil, and I hope these guys will still enjoy their race in Brazil.”
It is unknown whether Massa’s upcoming retirement may be an issue for the organisers of the event, or if this causes attendances to drop.
