jacarepagua

The circuit was constructed between 1971 and 1977 on the site of the Barra da Tijuca road course, which had itself been laid out on reclaimed marshland and operated from 1964 to 1970. The completed venue was a relatively flat layout featuring a long pit straight and an even longer back straight, the latter flanked by giant grandstands that ran almost its full length — an arrangement that gave spectators an unusually complete view of the circuit. Maximum spectator capacity was 90,000. The back straight allowed the turbocharged Formula One cars of the mid-1980s to reach speeds of 300 km/h. The circuit offered numerous mid-speed and slow-speed corners with good room for overtaking.

The 1978 Brazilian Grand Prix, the circuit's inaugural Formula One event, was won by Carlos Reutemann in a Ferrari 312T3. Ronnie Peterson had taken pole in the Lotus 78-Ford. After the 1979 and 1980 Brazilian Grands Prix were held at Interlagos in São Paulo, safety and image concerns prompted Formula One to relocate to Rio. From 1981, Jacarepaguá hosted the race for the remainder of the decade.

The 1981 race, run in wet conditions, was won by Reutemann in a Williams FW07C-Ford in controversial circumstances: he disobeyed team orders to allow teammate and reigning world champion Alan Jones to take the victory.

The 1982 race was shaped by the FISA–FOCA war. Rio-born Nelson Piquet finished first in a Brabham BT49-Ford and Keke Rosberg second in a Williams, but both were disqualified for being underweight after racing with water-cooled brakes. Alain Prost was promoted to the win in his Renault RE30 — the first of five Prost victories at the circuit and the start of a seven-race winning streak for turbocharged cars there. The disqualifications sparked a FOCA-team boycott of the following San Marino Grand Prix.

Piquet won the 1983 race in his Brabham-BMW to claim his second World Championship, becoming the first F1 champion powered by a turbocharged engine. Prost won in 1984 and 1985 driving McLaren machinery. The 1984 race featured the Formula One debut of Ayrton Senna in a Toleman-Hart; he became the first retirement of the season. Piquet won in 1986 in a Williams FW11-Honda with Senna second in a Lotus-Renault, before Prost took the 1987 race in a McLaren MP4/3-TAG.

The circuit was officially named after Nelson Piquet in 1988 following his third World Championship in 1987. Prost won again that year in a McLaren MP4/4-Honda — his fifth victory at the venue in nine races.

The 1989 race was the first after the banning of turbo engines. Nigel Mansell won in a Ferrari 640 equipped with Formula One's first semi-automatic gearbox, while Senna set the outright qualifying record — 1:25.302 — in a McLaren MP4/5-Honda to take pole. It was the circuit's final Formula One event; the Brazilian Grand Prix moved to a shortened Interlagos in 1990 and has remained there since.

Between 1996 and 2000, the CART IndyCar series used a trapezoid-shaped oval approximately 3.000 km in length built within the infield and along the main straight of the road circuit. Named the Emerson Fittipaldi Speedway, it held the Rio 400 (later shortened to the Rio 200 in 1999). André Ribeiro won the first event in 1996. The circuit qualifying record for the oval — 0:38.565, representing a speed of 280 km/h — was set by Christian Fittipaldi, nephew of Emerson Fittipaldi.

The Autódromo hosted the Rio de Janeiro motorcycle Grand Prix from 1995 to 2004. The inaugural race was won by Luca Cadalora on a Yamaha YZR500. Valentino Rossi won four consecutive races from 2000 to 2003, the most victories any rider accumulated at the venue. Mick Doohan won the 1996 and 1997 editions. The final race, in 2004, was won by Makoto Tamada on a Honda RC211V. Honda won seven of the nine motorcycle Grands Prix held at the circuit; Yamaha won the other two.

From 2005, proposals to partially demolish and reconfigure the circuit for the 2007 Pan American Games and later the 2016 Olympics created uncertainty about the venue's future. In 2006, the Stock Car Rio event was staged on a temporary layout combining sections of the oval and road circuit. A 3.336 km configuration using the second half of the original road course with a connecting hairpin remained active for local events including the Corrida do Milhão through 2008.

In January 2008, Rio de Janeiro announced that the track would be demolished to build an Olympic Training Centre as part of the city's ultimately successful bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Demolition was completed in November 2012. In 2013, Formula One Group CEO Bernie Ecclestone indicated discussions were under way to return the Brazilian Grand Prix to Rio, potentially from 2016 onward, but as of 2026 no Grand Prix has returned to the city.