Autódromo José Carlos Pace · Interlagos

Universally known as Interlagos after the São Paulo district it sits in, the Autódromo José Carlos Pace runs 4.309 kilometres over 15 turns, anticlockwise — one of relatively few major circuits run in that direction — with about 43 metres of elevation change between its highest point, the rise from the start/finish straight into Turn 1, and its lowest, at Turn 5 in the Descida do Lago. The result is a genuinely undulating lap, downhill-heavy off the line and rolling through most of the infield, threaded through a dense residential corner of the city rather than sitting out on open land.

The S do Senna — the Senna S — is the circuit's most famous section: a tight, downhill esses complex right after the start/finish straight, named for the city's most famous driver. Curva do Sol is a fast sweeping left onto the back Reta Oposta straight; Mergulho (“the dive”) is the long, constant-radius left late in the lap; and Junção is the tight left that starts the long uphill climb back to the pit straight, closing a lap that rarely lets a driver settle into a rhythm for long.

Opened in 1940 and run anticlockwise through São Paulo, Interlagos is the beating heart of Brazilian motorsport — where Senna won at home, in front of the most passionate grandstands in the world. The Senna S still defines bravery. It brings the championship its South American soul.

The Southern-Hemisphere round as a cultural immersion: paddock access, the Senna S on foot, and São Paulo by night.

Interlagos was inaugurated on May 12, 1940. It first held the Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix in 1972 and, after a decade at Rio's Jacarepaguá, has been the race's permanent home since 1990 (run as the São Paulo Grand Prix since 2021). It also hosts the FIA World Endurance Championship's 6 Hours of São Paulo, has run Stock Car Brasil since 1979 and the historic Mil Milhas Brasil endurance classic since 1956 — it is the beating heart of Brazilian motorsport, and one of the most passionately supported race weekends anywhere in the world.

Circuit information — City of São Paulo →