Formula 1 and South Africa have been a real sea serpent for decades. Will Formula 1 return to South Africa, to Kyalami, more than thirty years after leaving it in 1993? Every year, the subject comes back to the table, but no major progress has been noted for several months. In 2022, South Africa came very close to returning to the calendar for the 2023 season, but the signing collapsed at the last moment.
Since then, despite a strong desire to bring F1 back to the lands of the rainbow nation – whether on the side of F1, the FIA or on the side of the local authorities – little progress has been made. do. Last November, the Kyalami circuit announced that it had begun the process of obtaining FIA Grade 1, essential for hosting Formula 1. However, the route could be knocked out for the return of the South African Grand Prix. South by a new project… with an urban circuit in the city of Cape Town.
Indeed, the South African media BusinessTech reports that the company The Cape Town Grand Prix SA (CTGPSA) will submit an application to South Africa’s Bid Steering Committee (steering committee for the return of F1 to South Africa) welcome Formula 1 to the streets of the port city, the country’s parliamentary capital. To support this project, the CTGPSA is proposing a 5.7 kilometer urban circuit which would wind around the DHL Stadium – which hosted the Football World Cup in 2010 – and in the Green Point district, where several sports facilities are located.
Cape Town, Kyalami… or neither?
According to the CTGPSA, the idea of a return of the South African Grand Prix with a street circuit better corresponds to the expectations of Formula 1, fond of new city tracks like Miami, Las Vegas or Madrid, which will introduce the discipline’s calendar in 2026. Cape Town also has the advantage of having already hosted an FIA world championship event in 2023: in fact, Formula E had set down its bags in the parliamentary capital of South Africa during Season 10, with a successful experience despite the absence of the Cape Town E-Prix on the FE calendar since this single meeting.
Also according to BusinessTech, Gayton Mckenzie, South African Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, recognized the interest in hosting a Formula 1 Grand Prix in Cape Town and said that a thorough review process will take place , in a letter addressed to the Director General of the CTGPSA, Igshaan Amlay. “With the continued support of our local and international supporters and F1 enthusiasts, we are ready to host an F1 race at our spectacular circuit located in the Green Point Sport Tourism Precinct in Cape Town, South Africa”said Igshaan Amlay.
However, the CTGPSA candidacy will face tough competition. Indeed, the South African authorities and the city of Johanesburg – the largest city in the country and economic capital of South Africa – still have the main desire to bring Formula 1 back to the Kyalami circuit, which could therefore pass in Grade 1 FIA in the coming months. Additionally, Gayton McKenzie previously revealed that a permanent circuit was already under construction in Cape Town, next to Fisantekraal Airport. Without forgetting that South Africa itself could find itself in competition with Rwanda for the hosting of Formula 1 on the African continent…
READ ALSO > The Hungaroring in full metamorphosis six months before the 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix
