Columbia has become the latest country to express interest in an F1 race, with the mayor of Barranquilla, Jaime Pumarejo stating that the “process is progressing favourably”.
The Barranquilla city official told Colombian Newspaper El Heraldo that a new addition to the calendar is “a real, palpable possibility” but later admitted “there is still a lot of work to be done”.
Nevertheless, initial plans for a circuit layout have already been drawn up, centred around the metropolitan area of Barranquilla. Barranquilla, situateD on the coast of the Caribbean Sea, is around 1,000km from Colombia’s capital, Bogota.
“Two semi-urban routes have been identified and approved, a plan A and a plan B,” Pumarejo added. In one of the routes, the river is the main protagonist, but both are within the metropolitan area.”
Should a Caribbean Grand Prix get the green light, it would see two races in South America on the calendar alongside the Sao Paulo Grand Prix in Brazil.
F1 has seen an expansion of races in the Americas recently, with Miami making its’ debut in May this year, and Las Vegas joining in 2023 to make a record breaking 24-round calendar.
Jaime Pumarejo said;
“It is not yet a reality, but we are in the race, and we hope to reach the finish line. We don’t want to raise false expectations yet.
“If it is signed, we could be talking about 2024 or 2025 and it would be signed, hopefully, for 10 years.”