McKenzie mission brings hope. But where would F1 race?
South Africa’s Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie’s presence with Formula 1 boss Stefano Domenicali at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku over the past weekend has sent the South African social media into tilt. Speculation has returned to fever pitch on this latest prospect of a Grand Prix return to the country, with the race apparently now on to beat the likes of Rwanda and Morocco to be the next African GP. Both of those countries have already commenced with bids to the right to host an African race.
McKenzie’s move however asks more questions than it answers. Among those are where such a race would be held in sunny South Africa? While Kyalami has long been mooted and Cape Town has consistently chased plans to run a South African Grand Prix, there are indeed several other prospects. They range from a daring Nelson Mandela Bay project to the already mooted Soweto effort, a Cape Winelands prospect, and another in the Vaal Triangle too, among others. All are lobbying for a free and fair bid contest to make sure the best host wins the right to host a New South African Grand Prix.
East London hosted the original SA Grands Prix
33 South African Grand Prix were run between 1934 and 1993. It all started in East London in the 1930s and early ‘60s, before Kyalami traditionally hosted the race from 1967 on. The Johannesburg racetrack remains in the picture, although there at present appears to be no bid effort in the works. Kyalami got close to a deal last year when GP boss Domenicali even visited the Midrand racetrack. But he is understood to have left in a huff when that bid committee allegedly significantly shifted the literal goalposts at the twelfth hour. Cape Town has long wanted a Grand Prix. It has already hosted albeit just one Formula E Prix a few years back.
There are several others hoping to host the next South African Grand Prix. Among them is a serious effort by the perpetrators of a major multibillion investment in the greater economic development of the Eastern Cape. Already well advanced in its plans, this group is said to have the funds in place to proceed with a Grand Prix bid without leaning on government for support. And it would pick up where those original SA Grands Prix left off in the Eastern Cape, racing on a state of the art street circuit in keeping with F1’s desire for such races. That circuit would be built as the centrepiece of the new megacity boasting every amenity required to properly run a Grand Prix.
Does the Soweto Grand Prix bid still have legs?
There are also similar plans around the Soweto Grand Prix already long mooted to race on a street circuit built around the adjacent Johannesburg NASREC showgrounds. Recent documents pertaining to a Cape Winelands Raceway near the newly proclaimed international airport outside Durbanville, also claim to have Grand Prix aims. And there’s another megacity plan that incorporates ‘a racetrack to host a future South African Grand Prix’ near the Vaal Dam.
Which of these prospects indeed actually have the steam, and how one of them would be picked from the bunch to best represent South Africa on the world stage, remains a moot point. Auto has contacted the Ministry of Sports, Arts and Culture on whether there are indeed plans to accommodate bids from qualified South African Grand Prix punters. We awaited a response at the time of writing and will follow up as soon as we indeed have a response.
In the meantime, South Africa and Formula 1 have a couple of years to help then one-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton honour his promise to Nelson Mandela that he would one day race in a South African Grand Prix. The now seven-time World Champion has at least two years to do that, since signing his new Ferrari contract.