If Kyalami can strike a deal with Formula 1 for a race in Johannesburg next year, it’ll see the South African Grand Prix take place exactly 30 years after the last race at the same venue in 1993.
Hopes of Formula 1 motor racing returning to South Africa are high after F1 CEO and President Stefano Domenicali jetted into the country for the latest round of talks with the people behind Kyalami.
Domenicali made the trip after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku and met officials from the Kyalami circuit, including Kyalami owner Toby Venter and other stake-holders, according to multiple media reports, which also stated that a slot on the 2023 calendar was being targeted.
SA GP History
Kyalami, which is located near Johannesburg, was the destination when F1 last held a race in South Africa in 1993. Kyalami also played host to the South African GP from 1967 to 1985, and the country has been increasingly linked to a return to the calendar.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has been a strong proponent of a South African GP, while Domenicali in March said there was “potential also to be in Africa soon”.
HAVE YOU ALSO READ?: Cricket SA and Roc Nation sign commercial partnership
Speaking at the recent Business of F1 Forum in Monaco, F1’s Global Director of Race Promotion, Chloe Targett-Adams, admitted that a presence in Africa was “something we’ve been working on for many years now”.
She added: “The US is still very much in our sights. Africa and Asia I think is where we need to be. If you look at China with the way that Covid has happened, we’ve been out of that market for maybe three years. Next year is still a question mark. Africa and Asia is the focus, I think, in the short to mid-term, and how we race in Europe is also a big question, making sure we keep that heartland of the sport.”
Finding a Spot on the Calendar
A South African GP for 2023 would likely take F1’s calendar to the maximum 24 races permitted under the current Concorde Agreement, which underpins the commercial terms of the series between the organiser and the teams and runs to 2025.
Shanghai’s Chinese GP has not taken place since 2019 due to Covid-19, but in November extended its race deal through to 2025. While its status remains uncertain, F1 will be accommodating two new races next season.
The United States is set to have three races on the Formula 1 calendar from 2023 after the championship in March fulfilled a long-held ambition to return to Las Vegas. Meanwhile, Qatar is set to stage the first race under a deal that was agreed in September.
These introductions to the calendar are likely to put pressure on existing European races, with the French GP and Belgian GP currently reported to be the most under threat.
It would seem, though, that work needs to be done to Kyalami to ensure it meets the requirements of Formula 1, with suggestions that the track needed to improve its current ‘Grade 2’ status to meet the ‘Grade 1’ threshold for a F1 race.
South African motorsport fans will be holding their breath.