Lisbon, Sept. 14, 2025 (Lusa) - The possible return of the Formula 1 World Championship to Portugal in 2027 would compensate for an initial investment of between €30 and €50 million (ME), said economist Paulo Reis Mourão, given the government's announcement in August.
"The final accounts of any motorsport event are always political, in the sense that public or academic scrutiny is very rare. In general, most promoters report revenues, which more or less offset the costs billed," said the specialist in the economics of motorised sports, in an interview with the Lusa news agency.
At the Pontal Festival in Quarteira, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said he had "everything ready to formalise" the return of the Portuguese Grand Prix (GP) to the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve (AIA) in Portimão, which already hosted the event in 2020 and 2021.
The cancellation of several races abroad due to the Covid-19 pandemic paved the way for the national presence in motorsport's most important class 24 years later, following stints at Boavista (1958 and 1960), Monsanto (1959) and Estoril (between 1984 and 1996).
"If you ask me as a citizen, I'd say it's worth it, even if it's honestly not worth promising the inhabitants of Portimão an increase in income or that the race will rain money on the country. I would say that, in the end, everyone will gain something, and some will gain a lot. This gain ranges from units of euros to individual satisfaction, collective pride and a sense of international prestige," observed Paulo Reis Mourão, author of a book on the economic side of Formula 1.
Aiming to promote the Algarve, where the Portuguese GP has been on the MotoGP calendar, the premier event in motorbike speedway, since 2020, and is guaranteed to be there until 2026, Luís Montenegro considered that F1 involves "some financial effort on the part of the government, but it has a direct and indirect return that is worthwhile".
"The impact should always be calculated from a national perspective, never from a local or regional one. The childish mistake of almost all the kind reports that are made is to judge the impact from a parochial perspective, when a race of this calibre has national and even Iberian repercussions," warned the economist, pointing to a return of around €30 million when the Formula 1 Portuguese Grand Prix was held in a pandemic context.
Last week, before the Italian GP in Monza, F1 president Stefano Domenicali confirmed the interest of Portugal, Turkey and Germany in hosting a World Championship race, but revealed that "it will be difficult" because there are "very few places available" and that "those who sit down at the table need to have financial power".
"The costs of a professional race of international scope are one of the most sensitive issues in motorsport, as are the associated revenues and their distribution. If we talk about fees alone, in my 2017 book, I arrived at an average worldwide figure of around €40 million, to which were added the costs of updating the infrastructure, centred on €20 million, and of temporary hiring, as well as other more intangible costs, which could reach several tens of millions," explained Paulo Reis Mourão.
The government hasn't specified how much it plans to spend on the possible presence of Formula 1 in Portugal, with the professor from the University of Minho recognising that "state support, beyond the materialised sum, always acts as a certificate of public recognition", protecting private promoters from "accusations of elitism or snobbery" from those who aren't fans of the sport or from certain interest groups.
"If you ask a taxpayer with no interest in F1 whether part of their taxes should go towards hosting a race like this, the most likely answer won't be yes. Even so, the state, even if it doesn't support it with a cent, stands to gain from having this sport, from increased tax revenue to promotional marketing, which will speed up the attraction of foreign direct investment and catapult future tourist flows," he concluded.
In 18 editions, the Portuguese Grand Prix has been won by former world champions such as Jack Brabham, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell, Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve or Ayrton Senna, whose first ever triumph came in the rain and at the wheel of a Lotus-Renault at the Fernanda Pires da Silva Autodrome in Estoril in 1985.
The record holder for Formula 1 titles, with the same seven as Schumacher, Englishman Lewis Hamilton, then with Mercedes and now with Ferrari, dominated Portimão in 2020 and 2021, surpassing the German's 91 wins five years ago to become the driver with the most wins in all.
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