feature-image

Getty

feature-image

Getty

Formula One is regarded as one of the biggest international sports of current times. It has host countries sprinkled all over the world. But there is one continent that has not held a Grand Prix since 1993—Africa. While F1 is a luxurious affair with the motorhomes traveling across great oceans to far-off places, quite surprisingly, Africa has not made the racing calendar as of yet.

Watch What’s Trending Now!

Even after that, there have been speculations, and now fans are getting their hands on concrete evidence that a Formula One race will be held at the Kyalami Circuit outside Johannesburg, South Africa, as early as 2023.

ADVERTISEMENT

READ MORE: How Many Cars Does Max Verstappen Have in his Garage?

ADVERTISEMENT

Kyalami is ready to bring F1 back to Africa

To all Motorsport fans’ delight, Warren Scheckter, CEO of the South African Grand Prix, dropped major hints regarding a Kyalami F1 race in the near future. He said the South African circuit, which hosted the F1 GPs till 1993, is ready to bring Formula 1 back to the African fans.

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali also wishes to put forth a proper plan to start racing in South Africa pretty soon. This will bring in a newer audience and will increase the sports’ viewership numbers as well. According to reports, Liberty Media is also onboard with the plan.

ADVERTISEMENT

Not only Scheckter, but a few other African racing personnel like Kyalami Circuit owner Toby Venter also said he is eagerly waiting for F1 to visit South Africa. Speaking with Wheels24‘s Janine Van der Post, he said, “We want to have a race in Africa, and we want someone to pay for it. If the money is there, the race will happen. And, if F1 is desperate to race in Africa, even without the money, we have the track.

ADVERTISEMENT

WATCH STORY: Shortest F1 Drivers Ever Featuring Yuki Tsunoda & Lando Norris

But you cannot build a racing circuit out of the blue in just one day. There are many safety precautions and other mandates to follow. As of now, the Kyalami Racing Circuit has a Grade 2 status, and it needs to upgrade itself to Grade 1 to get the permit to host an F1 race.

ADVERTISEMENT

Hamilton is all in for a South African Grand Prix

Seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton has always rooted for a change in the way Formula One is conducted. And now, he wants to take this sport back to South Africa, as the country has not hosted a race in almost 20 years. He said in a recent interview, that he thinks Formula One needs to visit Africa in order to establish a “full world championship” in the true sense.

article-image

Reuters

Will the South African Formula 1 give fans new thrills as the circuits at Belgium and a few other places do? How soon will we get to see a South African F1 race? These questions will be answered in due course of time.

ADVERTISEMENT

Share this with a friend:

Link Copied!

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Written by

author-image

Riddhi Mondal

106 Articles

Riddhi Mondal is an F1 author at EssentiallySports. With over 3 years of experience, she has been a published F1 author on multiple sports platforms. Having previously worked as a student reporter at The Statesman, she is an ardent follower of all things F1. A nerd through and through, the complicated physics that goes into the cars is what drew Riddhi to the sport. She is a proud McLaren fan who eagerly awaits the paddock's visit to Spa Francorchamps and hopes to attend the Monaco GP one day. Whenever Riddhi is not praying to God to see Daniel Ricciardo on the podium once again, or wishing Lewis Hamilton finds an 8th World Championship title with Ferrari, she is busy reading thrillers, journaling, or doting on her six feline friends.

Know more

ADVERTISEMENT