Gayton McKenzie vows to bring F1 to South Africa

South Africa may host a Formula One (F1) Grand Prix in the future if Sports Art and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie has his way.

South Africans have been pleading for an F1 race as petrolheads sit in front of their TV sets on a Sunday afternoon to watch Red Bull’s Max Verstappen battle the McLaren of Lando Norris or Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.

While there has been plenty of speculation and hope that Formula One will return to Kyalami after last hosting an F1 race in 1993, the sad reality is that a lot has to still be upgraded to make that a reality and meet F1 requirements.

F1 coming to SA?

However, McKenzie has really hit the road running at full throttle since taking over the portfolio with many hoping he will be able to bring the global spectacle of F1 to the country.

There was a glimmer of hope when McKenzie vowed to do everything he could to appease the F1 fans.

“I have set up meetings with relevant people already, my term will be a failure if I don’t bring one of the biggest sporting tourist events to South Africa which is F1. Our first meeting is the end of August in Monaco,” McKenzie said in a post on X.

ALSO READ: Kyalami Grand Prix almost happened but got sunk by ‘greed’

What’s the problem?

South Africa’s return after what would have been two decades since last hosting a Grand Prix ultimately fell victim to greed despite being almost a sure bet.

This is the view of the country’s first and so far only Formula 1 champion, Jody Scheckter, who remarked in an interview that Kyalami had been on track to host a round of the 2023 championship, only for talks to collapse because of money.

In an interview with total-motorsport.com, 1979 World Champion Scheckter attributed the eventual collapse to the price tag inflating from “500 000 to 2 million” believed to be US Dollars to host the event.

Black flag

Nothing came to fruition though with reports further alleging government support had been turned down, and that work still needed to be done in order for the circuit to obtain the FIA Level 1 grading required to host a Grand Prix.

Besides the South African F1 faithful, Scheckter said his nephew Warren Scheckter, whose SAGP organisation had been working on a deal for six years, had been the biggest loser following the withdrawal of government funding.

“Because going [through the] government and getting [their support] and for them all to agree to put some budget in and then to secure the money. It takes a massive amount [of effort] all of a sudden, it was over, and he was left with nothing,” Scheckter said.

In June last year, as reports of a signed deal accelerated following Domenicali’s visit, Warren told the website Double Apex “An F1 race in SA has not yet been confirmed. There are many things that need to take place before we can make a formal announcement”.

Accordingly, the senior Scheckter said while the choosing of Kyalami was always on the cards, “Cape Town would be a better place. But it’s all to do with money”.

Additional reporting by Charl Bosch

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