Raikkonen, Hamilton, not keen on Rio move

F1’s most experienced drivers are not keen on the idea of moving the Brazilian GP to Rio de Janeiro.

The sport is openly contemplating abandoning Interlagos, where crime problems affect the F1 world almost annually, and switching to a new circuit in Rio for 2021.

"I’m always happy to go to new venues, especially if it can be a good circuit where the racing can be good and interesting," Sergio Perez said.

But Kimi Raikkonen, who has raced at Interlagos throughout his almost two decades in Formula 1, thinks swapping Sao Paulo for Rio would be "bad for the sport".

"Everything here is connected with history. It’s a great place and we have seen a lot of exciting races here," said the 2007 world champion.

"Unfortunately it’s not in our hands and I think that the main considerations as usual will be the commercial ones," Finn Raikkonen added.

Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton agrees, insisting the "old school" part of him still loves Interlagos.

"I think for the cars we have at the moment, the circuit is a bit small. I like the longer version better," the Mercedes driver said.

"But I think we have to keep the classic races and this is one of the absolute classics.

"Honestly, so much money goes into building a new circuit," Hamilton continued. "We already have a historic circuit here.

"We don’t need to cut any more rainforest down and the money would be better spent on the infrastructure of the cities and the poverty," Hamilton added.