The Cascais municipal council has put forward a plan to take over the management of the Estoril Circuit, with the long-term goal of bringing Formula 1 back to Portugal by 2028.
The proposal, submitted to state holding company Parpública, would see the council pay €12.5 million for the right to manage the circuit for a period of up to 75 years, reports online business newspaper Jornal de Negócios (paywalled). If approved, the next step would be to launch a public tender aimed at attracting €150 million in private investment to modernise the venue.
According to Cascais deputy mayor Nuno Piteira Lopes, the proposed amount is based on asset valuations carried out by Parpública, although those assessments place the circuit’s value “slightly higher”. He added that the state company is currently in a position to decide whether to transfer both the surface rights and management of the track to the municipality.
Significant upgrades would be required. “It is absolutely necessary to intervene across the entire infrastructure,” Piteira Lopes told Jornal de Negócios, pointing to the need for improvements ranging from the paddock to basic facilities such as restrooms.
This is not Cascais’ first attempt to bring the Estoril Circuit under municipal control. In 2015, the council moved to acquire the track from the state for around €5 million, but the deal was blocked by the Court of Auditors.
The Estoril Circuit has been in public hands since 1997 and famously hosted Formula 1 races between 1984 and 1996.
The Algarve has been tipped to host a return of F1 racing to Portugal, but the F1 boss put a damper on the country’s hopes earlier this year, warning that the race calendar is packed.
