Formula 1 has announced the calendar for the 2024 FIA Formula One world championship, with 24 races starting in Bahrain on March 2 and finishing in Abu Dhabi on December 8.
As earlier predicted, SA is not on the calendar. The country lost its bid to host a Formula One race in the near future due to its political alignment with Russia, according to a report in motorsport website racingnews365 in June.
“F1 would not comment on the rumours, but the decision will likely provide Spa-Francorchamps a reprieve and see the Belgian Grand Prix remain on the calendar for at least another year,” the report said.
Belgium’s date on the calendar has now been confirmed as July 26-28.
Africa is the only continent not to have a race on the F1 schedule, but plans to return the Kyalami circuit to the F1 fold for the first time in 30 years had gained momentum in recent years after seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton said he would like to race in SA.
Formula 1 boss Stefano Domenicali visited SA in 2022 to have discussions with local stakeholders, including Kyalami owner Toby Venter, but the country lost the bid to host a race in 2023 when talks between F1 and promoter Warren Scheckter broke down over financial details. Kyalami also required upgrades to achieve the necessary Grade 1 licence to host F1.
The focus shifted to staging an SA Grand Prix in 2024 with 777, a sports investment company based in Miami, taking over promotion of the event. It is not known whether 777 is working towards bringing the event here in 2025 or beyond, as the company did not respond to requests for comment.
Reacting to June’s report that an F1 race wouldn’t take place in SA in 2024, Kyalami’s Venter said: “I am not disappointed. Everything happens for the better and eventually the right deal will come.”
At the time, chair of Motorsport SA Anton Roux said the country stood to lose significant tourism revenue by not staging the F1 race. He said F1 was one of the biggest motorsport events in the world and about 60% of people attending Grands Prix were not from the host country.
“Just the VAT paid by the F1 teams would more than cover the cost of hosting the event,” he said.
The hosting fee was not made public but is thought to be about $35m, with an estimated R100m additionally required to upgrade Kyalami to give the circuit an F1 rating.
Staging F1 races can attract huge income from tourists spending money on accommodations, transportation, dining, shopping, and other entertainment activities. According to a report by Applied Analysis, F1’s inaugural 2022 Miami Grand Prix brought in nearly $350m of economic activity to the surrounding area. Tourists spent $150m during the race week with an average of $1,940 per person — almost twice that of the typical tourist to the area.
According to a study by China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), Malaysia’s F1 host status contributed almost 500,000 more tourism arrivals in 2016, which translated to at least $380m in extra revenue generated for the country — more than six times the $58.1m it cost to stage the race.
SA last hosted a F1 race at Kyalami in 1993, won by Alain Prost in a Williams-Renault.
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