Sport, arts & culture minister Gayton McKenzie has given the strongest indication yet that SA may be close to securing a round of the Formula One championship at Kyalami.
Speaking to parliament on Tuesday, he said that following multiple meetings with the management of F1, the “crucial one” would be happening in the next two weeks and would be attended by potential sponsors ready to fund the event, which reputedly costs around R2bn.
Expected to take place in 2027, it would be the first F1 race to be held in SA since 1993, a grand prix won by Alain Prost in a Williams.
McKenzie’s comments follow Kyalami recently being given the green light for upgrades by the FIA, the organisation that runs F1 racing.
Kyalami owner Toby Venter revealed last month that the FIA had accepted final design proposals to upgrade the 4.5km circuit from Grade 2 to Grade 1 status, the international standard required to host Formula One racing.
The upgrade requires no change to the circuit layout and focuses on enhancing run-off areas, barrier systems, debris fencing, kerbs and drainage.
“When we hosted the Fifa World Cup, we put our country on the map to host big events, and we should not turn back now,” McKenzie told parliament on Tuesday.
“What will be different this time is that government will not be expected to pay. Companies like MTN, MultiChoice, Heineken and many more have raised their hands and will be present with us in the meeting with Formula One management at the end of the month.
“We’ve even had patriots saying whenever you need help come to us, one of them being the richest man in the country, Johann Rupert.”
In December McKenzie set up an F1 bid steering committee to consider submissions from local promoters and three were received: one from Kyalami and two from Cape Town.
While no official announcement has been made as to which bid was successful, it is all but certain that Kyalami — which hosted its first F1 race in 1967 and has long held a prominent place in SA motorsport — is the preferred option.
Several attempts to bring the Grand Prix back to the country were thwarted due to the high cost of hosting the event.
As a motorsport fan, McKenzie has campaigned for SA to be on the F1 calendar since his appointment as sports minister in July 2024. He said F1 can’t be considered a world championship if it misses an entire continent.
Morocco and SA have hosted world championship grands prix in the past, Casablanca in 1958, SA in East London in the 1960s and Kyalami 20 times between 1967 and 1993.
McKenzie kickstarted the process when he met Formula One CEO Stefano Domenicali at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in September.
He said that many laughed when he said Formula One should come back to SA.
“To those who say the country can’t afford to host the F1, I’m saying the country can’t afford not to host it,” he said, referring to the economic benefits he believed the event could bring in terms of tourism and temporary job creation.
It is not known how much tickets would cost, but they are likely to be expensive — the cheapest adult ticket at this year’s Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne was about R2,000.
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