F1: South Africa bids for first African grand prix in 30 years

Three decades after Formula One engines last roared on African tarmac, South Africa is mounting a bid to organise a new Grand Prix and bring the world championship back to the continent.

The competition to host the high-octane spectacle is between two tracks: a street circuit in Cape Town and the less picturesque but historic Kyalami race track outside of Johannesburg.

A committee set up by sports minister Gayton McKenzie will choose the winning bid in the third quarter of the year, committee member Mlimandlela Ndamase told AFP.

McKenzie is confident about South Africa’s chances.

“The Grand Prix is definitely coming in 2027, no doubt about that,” he said early February.

“Whether it is Cape Town or Joburg, we do not care as long as the Grand Prix is coming to South Africa,” he added.

The challenging Kyalami circuit — which zigzags about 30 kilometres (20 miles) outside Johannesburg and where the track is painted with a huge, colourful South African flag — once hosted nail-biting races and legendary drivers.

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But the last grand prix on African soil was held in 1993, the year before South Africa’s first democratic elections that ended apartheid. It was won by Alain Prost in a Williams.

Post-apartheid return?

South Africa’s bid to host F1 can count on the support of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who has long advocated for an African Grand Prix.

“We can’t be adding races in other locations and continuing to ignore Africa,” Hamilton said last August.

Under the leadership of US conglomerate Liberty Media, which bought the Formula One Group in 2017, the sport wants to “go to every continent”, said expert Samuel Tickell, of the University of Munster in Germany.

The sport had lived some “historic moments” in the country, Tickell said, including a threatened strike led by Niki Lauda in 1982 against a racing “super-licence” restricting drivers’ contractual freedom.

South Africa also boasts the continent’s only world champion, Ferrari’s Jody Scheckter in 1979.

However, Johannesburg’s Kyalami race track is certified as Grade 2, just a level below that needed for a F1 race and it will require some work to host an event.