Rumours have evolved over the last few days that Formula 1 could be returning back to the South Africa circuit, Kyalami, in 2024 at the earliest as F1 Boss Stefano Domenicali looks to increase F1's global footprint. F1 has been to Kyalami before but F1 fans haven't seen racing there since 1993.
F1 raced in South Africa from 1967 to 1985, 1992 and 1993 but the circuit has changed since. Kyalami circuit is a 4.529 km (2.814 mi) track which contains 16 corners with an asphalt surface. Kyalami can also currently hold a capacity of 100,000 people and has a FIA grade of 2. The track was last changed in 2015 when 3 corners were added which increased the track length by 0.268 km (0.166 mi)
The last Formula 1 winner at Kyalami in 1993 was Alain Prost who won the opening round by almost a lap to Ayrton Senna and only 5 drivers finished that race out of the 25 drivers. Austrian driver Niki Lauda is the most successful F1 driver at the circuit having won 4 times.
Despite F1 not racing at Kyalami for 29 years, racing still happens at the circuit as the current lap record was set by Matt Campbell, in a Porsche 911 GT3 R, in the 2020 Kyalami 9 hours race weekend, set a time of a 1:42:021 (set on the new layout 2015-present).
Kyalami has also hosted many other motorsport events for example the South Africa Motorcycle Grand Prix took place at Kyalami until 1992. The circuit changed ownership in July 2014 and they changed the track layout to what we see today. In 2019, an FIA motorsport championship returned as when the provisional calendar for the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) was announced for the 2020/21 season, Kyalami appeared in the form of a 6 hour race around the South African circuit.
Do you want to see F1 return to South Africa?