Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFormula 1

South African Grand Prix close to return

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Bernie Ecclestone says he is close to agreeing a deal which could see the South African Grand Prix return to the F1 calendar as early as next year.

A return for South Africa has been a long-time target of Ecclestone’s, with the last grand prix in the country held at the Kyalami circuit in 1993. Previous plans centred on Cape Town, with 2010 World Cup venues included as part of the circuit, but failed to come to fruition.

However, talks have continued and Ecclestone now says he feels there is “a good chance” the race can be given the go-ahead, revealing that the target is to include include South Africa on next year's calendar.

"I've been looking to go back to South Africa for a long time, and now we have a good chance,” Ecclestone told the Press Association. "They're getting on with it. We're hoping to be back in 2016, but we will have a look and see. We'll see how we get on."

The 2016 calendar is already set to see the addition of a grand prix in Azerbaijan, while Mexico is another returning venue on this year’s schedule of 20 races.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.