Talks over South Africa hosting an F1 race ‘paused, not terminated,’ says Motorsport SA chair

Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit

• South Africa’s hopes of hosting a Formula 1 race have been put on ice.
• SA’s ties with Russia caused a rift in discussions, taking the country off the preliminary calendar for 2024.
• Projected economic benefits of hosting an F1 race for SA would exceed the R1 billion generated by the Cape Town e-Prix earlier this year.

Though South Africa’s hopes to appear on the 2024 Formula 1 calendar have been derailed, Motorsport South Africa chairperson Anton Roux is adamant that talks will continue when the time is right.

Roux, a member of the Senate of the FIA, confirmed to News24 that he is not giving up on ambitions to host an F1 race in the country in the future.

“All the discussions have been paused, and not terminated,” Roux said.

“I’m not going to give up on it. But for now, we’d have to wait and see how the matter with Mr Putin and Russia actually pans out.”

READ: Another major blow to SA’s F1 hopes

Indeed, South Africa’s ties with Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, have put negotiations on ice.

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa’s deflection on calls to have his Russian counterpart Putin arrested when he sets foot in the country later this year has led to the FIA and Formula One Management (FOM) putting talks on hold.

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March over war crimes related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent war between the two nations.

As a member of the ICC, South Africa are theoretically required to arrest Putin under the court’s warrant.

Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit

Kyalami

Is F1 economically viable?

Earlier this year, Cape Town hosted a round of the 2022/23 Formula E season – the first open-cockpit race in the country since the 1993 F1 race at Kyalami. 

According to a Nielsen Sports study, the Cape Town race generated R1.084 billion in economic activity and drew nearly R70 million in media value globally.

Roux says that the economic spin-off generated by an F1 event would exceed that of Formula E.

READ: Formula E brought R1 billion boost to Cape Town’s economy

“An F1 event is bigger than the Olympic Games at this current moment. It’s not something that happens every four years – it happens 23 times a year,” he said.

“The last time we looked at the feasibility study, just the fees for teams to participate in a South African Grand Prix would be more than the guarantee required from the South African government.”

Roux further explained that more than 60% of people attending an F1 race are not from the host country, saying: “The demographic of people attending F1 races throughout the year, they are all wealthy people.”

The international attendees would surely stay in South Africa for longer than just the three days of racing, directly boosting economic activity, not just in Gauteng, but throughout the country as tourists would visit South Africa’s many attractions.