Kyalami came close to F1 return, reveals Scheckter

Former Formula 1 world champion Jody Scheckter has revealed how close Kyalami came to making it back on to the world championship calendar for 2023 - and why things ultimately fell apart.

The idea that South Africa could return to the Grand Prix schedule for the first time since 1993 swept the F1 paddock last summer, but ultimately failed to materialise when the details of the 24-race season were unveiled.

Even when the Chinese GP was dropped for COVID-related reasons there was still no way back for Kyalami, the 2.814-mile track just north of Johannesburg which had hosted 20 world championship events since 1967.

• Read also: Domenicali in talks with promoters for F1 return to Kyalami

Scheckter - who won his home race at Kyalami in 1975 - has now come clean about the man reason why the race didn't happen. His nephew Warren had worked on the deal for six years to get government backing required to make the race viable.

Scheckter told TotalMotorsport.com that a deal had been ready to be signed between representatives of Formula 1 and the event promoters, only for a last-minute push for more money to abruptly derail the negotiations.

“I was an inside part of it, my nephew worked on it nearly full time for six years,” Scheckter explained.

"Going [to the] government and getting [their support], and for them all to agree to put some budget in and then to secure the money - it takes a massive amount [of effort]," he said.

“F1 came over to sign. He had got government backing, some of the wealthiest people in South Africa behind it."

But in the end it was the track promotor's sudden demand for a bigger slice of the profits that derailed the entire project.

"Everything was in place, and the guy from Kyalami got greedy," Scheckter said.
“Just as soon as F1 left, he changed the whole thing completely.

"The guy from Kyalami went from 500,000 to 2 million, and he wanted to take the whole thing over," he said. "The government realised there was a fight and withdrew, and that was the end.”

Even though that initiative fell through, hopes remain that South Africa will be back n the F1 calendar before too much longer. Interest remains high from Formula 1, with Africa the last remaining continent without a regular Grand Prix.

Whether it can be brought together in time for 2024 - and whether Kyalami remains a viable venue for the race in the circumstances - remains to be seen.

Prior to Kyalami, the South African GP was held from 1934 to 1966 at the East London circuit in Eastern Cape Province, but towards the end the track was deemed to small for use by contemporary F1 cars.

Former winners of the South African GP have included Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Jack Brabham, Denny Hulme, Carlos Reutemann, Niki Lauda, Ronnie Peterson, Gilles Villeneuve, Alain Prost and Scheckter himself.

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