Kyalami and Cape Town in duel to host F1 Grand Prix as bid deadline expires

Tuesday was the deadline for bidders to express their interest in hosting a South African Formula One Grand Prix, with Cape Town and Kyalami seemingly the two biggest rivals for hosting the event.

In December 2024, sport, arts and culture minister Gayton McKenzie announced a team of experts to form South Africa’s Formula One bid steering committee for the return of the international motor racing event, last held in 1993 at Kyalami and won by Alain Prost in a Williams-Renault.

The team will choose which city and track to put forward for consideration to the F1 Group and global motorsport’s governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The deadline for submission was initially mid-February but was extended to March 18.

“Hosting a Formula One Grand Prix would boost our economy, tourism and development while showcasing South Africa as a premier global sporting destination. This extension ensures bidders have the time to prepare exceptional proposals,” McKenzie said.

McKenzie’s office did not respond to requests for comment for this article and it is not known how many bids were received, but TimesLIVE believes it may come down to a choice between Kyalami and Cape Town.

Midrand-based Kyalami is a front-runner as the circuit is certified as grade 2 and is “90% ready” for an F1 race, according to circuit owner Toby Venter. Kyalami last year hired Apex Circuit Design to prepare a road map for FIA Grade 1 accreditation, which determined the circuit needs to spend between $5m and $10m to get the required Grade 1 rating.

Kyalami hosted its first Formula One race in 1967 and has long held a prominent place in South African motorsport.

Cape Town is also vying for the race with two separate bids. Cape Town Grand Prix SA (CTGPSA) has proposed running an F1 race on the same 5.7km street circuit that hosted Formula E in 2023, and which was hosted by CTGPSA. The track weaves through the Green Point sport tourism precinct which includes the DHL Stadium.

A separate, independent Cape Town bid not submitted to the BSC, is funded by American company Boundless Motorsport which seeks to build a new FIA-certified Grand Prix circuit capable of hosting more than 125,000 fans close to the city. It is run by South African-born Bobby Hartslief, a former Kyalami Grand Prix and later Phakisa MotoGP organiser.

In the three decades since South Africa last held an F1 Grand Prix there have been several attempts to bring it back but all have been stymied primarily by the huge cost. Every effort turned out to be a false start, leaving local F1 fans cynical about whether it will ever happen.

This time the venture seems more likely due to receiving government support, with McKenzie an ardent motorsport fan who wants South Africa to be on the 2027 F1 calendar, and possibly as soon as 2026. The minister set the ball rolling when he met Formula One CEO Stefano Domenicali at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in September.

McKenzie revealed that hosting an F1 race could cost about R2bn and there were sponsors interested in funding it. However, even with sponsorship, ticket prices are likely to be expensive — the cheapest adult ticket at last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne was around R2,000.

Other African countries, including Morocco and Rwanda, have also expressed interest in hosting F1.

South Africa hosted F1 races between 1962 and 1993 and boasts the continent’s only world champion, Ferrari’s Jody Scheckter, in 1979.