Start, Kyalami, 1985

South African Grand Prix promoters invited to submit bids to hold race

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South Africa’s government is inviting potential promoters for a race in the country to come forward.

The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture has issued a tender for companies to host the race starting next year or in 2027. They envisage a 10-year term for the race.

South Africa is seeking to host its first round of the world championship since the 1993 race at Kyalami near Johannesburg. Formula One Management has previously indicated a desire to add a race in Africa, the only inhabited continent not on the 2025 F1 calendar.

“The chosen promoter must possess the expertise and governmental backing to orchestrate an exceptional world-class sports and entertainment event,” said the bid issued by the DCAS. “This promoter should demonstrate experience in hosting major events, developing sustainable business models for such events, and leveraging commercial opportunities in ticketing, sponsorship, and hospitality. Moreover, they must present a comprehensive vision for the grand prix that not only meets but exceeds Formula 1’s stringent requirements.”

The government has invited promoters to submit plans for street or permanent tracks. It has not excluded the possibility of developing an existing venue, such as Kyalami, which does not currently hold the FIA grade one certification necessary to hold F1 races.

They have specified the circuit “should be accessible within 30 minutes of a major city or a recognised ‘desirable destination location’ via multiple transport options.” It should be able to accommodate 125,000 spectators per day, at least three-quarters of which will arrive via public transport.

The track should measure 4.5-5.5km, including a straight or flat-out section measuring at least one kilometre. The designers have been urged to “incorporate any natural elevation changes (rather than aim to flatten a proposed site).”

Bids will be judged by a 12-member panel comprising representatives from motorsport, broadcasting, media and law. Applicants must submit their bids, including a refundable 10 million rand (£438,000) deposit, by the end of the month.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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16 comments on “South African Grand Prix promoters invited to submit bids to hold race”

  1. Next year may come too soon in any case.

  2. Whatever comes of this, the call to work with the natural terrain is a big plus.

    The (few) new tracks that incorporate the ups and downs of the terrain into their track are all the better for it.

    1. Yes (@come-on-kubica)
      18th January 2025, 13:58

      Not sure how the South Africans will feel about this with rampant unemployment.

      1. The world is turning away from Europe and the US, it will take time, but soon it will be the US, after it’s attempt to sink Europe, in the gutter. Europe will be forced to deal with it’s bigger more powerful brothers on the Eurasian continent, as it’s spent decades destroying it’s own culture and populations w/ garbage ethics.

  3. South Africa is in a bit of a state at the moment, probably best not to hold a Grand Prix there.

    If F1 wants to go to Africa (which would be awesome) it might be best to go for a country with a more optimistic outlook. Rwanda, Botswana, Angola, Kenya, Ethiopia and others would be much better options.

    1. Replying to myself (no edit button)

      I always thought a cool idea for a fantasy track would be to build one in an old disused open cast mine. Botswana has lots of old mines which could make it possible.

      1. But is there one with a 1km straight for DRS (or Mom)?

    2. LOL, have you ever been to any of those places?

  4. I hope this means goodbye Rwanda, nice to have met you but take care and mind how you go.

    1. Why? I get the preference for South Africa if it’s on a historic circuit like Kyalami. But at any circuit and as a country currently? None of them are a great option and I don’t see any other fantastic options in Africa on the horizon. This is a World Championship and should race in Africa definitely. So I’ll take whatever I can get =whichever one of them has enough money to get the deal over the line.

      1. whichever one of them has enough money to get the deal over the line.

        And that’s the rub, money. Liberty is a for profit business and I suspect all they care about is the bottom line.

        1. Agree 100%. That’s why I said that since I want F1 to race on all continents, I’ll support any of Rwanda/South Africa that manages to seal the deal. What I don’t understand is the above poster’s apparent hostility toward Rwanda as if SA is somehow much better…

  5. This is such a dead-in-the-water idea.
    It’s never going to happen.
    There is zero chance the government will pay over R10 billion for 10 years of F1 while there is widespread poverty in the country.
    And let’s not forget that the same clown minister of sport responsible for greenlighting this tender process, was publicly promising olympic athletes payments to refund their prep and training expenses … only to walk that back and pay nothing, because turns out he knows nothing about how the high performance athlete funding actually works.
    A few months after that and he was making a big public noise about giving everyone access to both rugby and football on public TV … only to have to walk that back to just a single match … because he understands nothing about associations right, TV rights, and how the sports are run in the country.
    Massively inept and exceptionally unqualified for his position.
    This is just more media noise while he tries to justify his fat salary.

    1. some racing fan
      23rd January 2025, 0:52

      Everyone in the South African government is massively inept and exceptionally unqualified for their positions

  6. BTW there is no race in Antartica, so Africa is not the only continent missing the F1 circus. Imagine the penguin support races.

    1. Africa and Antartica should be the nature reservates as they NOT the standard of an civil & enlighted State like us. And I am having thought to add the US with that also.

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