South Africa loses bid to host F1 ‘over Russian ties’
South Africa has lost its bid to host a Formula 1 race at its Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit in 2023 and 2024.
Formula 1 journalist Hendrick Verwoerd says the decision was partly due to South Africa’s stance on Russia.
“According to very well-placed sources, the original plan was for South Africa to join the grand prix calendar in 2023. For various reasons that didn't happen.
“The plan was then to have South Africa join in 2024 and now it seems as if the plans have fallen through, and the earliest possible date is 2025.”
The event would have been the first South African-hosted F1 event in 30 years.
Verwoerd says money also played a role in derailing the plans to bring the likes of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton to South Africa.
“The main way in which the event can take place is if a South African promoter can finance a medium-to-long term contract for a minimum of five years, and possibly to a maximum of 10 years and for that, you need financial guarantee and in many cases in the world, many states actually provide those financial guarantees.”
The state is expected to pay for the rights to hold the race in a specific country.
“We are talking about the amounts of at least R400 million per year just for the rights to hold the race, not including any costs of organising the race. If you multiply that by the amount of years times five, we are talking about billions of rands.”
He adds that Formula 1 has already cancelled the Russian Grand Prix after the invasion of Ukraine and banned all Russian athletes from taking part in Formula 1 racing under the Russian flag.
“I think the reasons given at the moment of South Africa's closeness to Russia maybe played a role and that will depend on whether that situation continues into 2025 because of American contention that South Africa is getting closer to Russia, which is problematic for Formula 1.”
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