There’s a brand-new attempt to revive Formula 1’s South African Grand Prix with proposals for a new circuit outside Cape Town.
Blue Mountain Racing (BMR) – a privately funded group of South African business leaders and international motorsport figures – has stated its intention to build a new circuit which it hopes will host F1 and MotoGP races from 2031.
The proposal is headed by businessman Neal Froneman, who was the founding CEO of South African-based global mining and metals processing group Sibanye-Stillwater.
BMR’s chief executive is Bobby Hartslief, who used to be the event promoter when F1 raced at Kyalami in the early 1980s, and has been a part of multiple efforts to return F1 to South Africa since its last race in 1993.
This latest proposal involves a 600-hectare site in the Swartland area north of the city that was secured earlier this year.
The circuit would be approximately 4.8 kilometres (3 miles), promising “a full-throttle straight of at least 1km” with “multiple overtaking possibilities” around the circuit.
BMR says the track width would be at least 12 metres throughout and incorporate natural rather than artificial elevation like some circuits. The open ground gives greater flexibility of design than a street circuit – such as the city centre Cape Town circuit previously proposed.
The venue would have the capacity to accommodate approximately 125,000 spectators per day.
The current timeline is for construction to commence in 2029 if there’s enough interest, and then a target of 2030 for homologation and 2031 for a maiden grand prix.
Is it realistic?
There are dozens of bids every year to join F1’s calendar from all around the world and some are more public in their efforts than others.
A race in Africa – the only inhabited continent without an F1 grand prix – has long been an objective of F1 and there is a genuine desire to race there again.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has been a vocal supporter, saying earlier this year: “I don’t want to leave the sport without having a grand prix there [in Africa], without getting to race there. I’m chasing them – when is it going to be?”
And F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said last month “negotiations are progressing very well in Africa” for a first race in over three decades on the continent.
This latest BMR proposal is one of several bids launched from South Africa in the 2020s, including other Cape Town proposals as well as a potential return to Kyalami, but none of them have succeeded so far.
As a brand-new promoter and a new venue BMR has to meet a much higher bar than an existing promoter/venue in proving to F1 that it would be a suitable venue.
This is particularly the case when BMR’s venue doesn’t yet exist outside of the ground it has acquired and the concept images it has generated.
So there’s still a long way to go before F1’s desired return to Africa – be it South Africa or elsewhere – is anywhere near finalised.