He has been actively “working in the background” to reintroduce the sport in the location where it left off 30 years ago before he retires from Formula 1. Talking to his fans in Abu Dhabi, he said:

“I’m working in the background to get South Africa on the race [calendar].

“That’s like such a dream for me, I’ve got to stay until they get that race.”

F1 News: Max Verstappen Disqualified After “Pathetic” Behaviour During Recent RaceJUL 16, 2023

South Africa Lost An Opportunity To Greed

The last Formula 1 Grand Prix was held in 1993 at Kyalami, South Africa. While officials in South Africa are also inclined to have Kyalami back on the calendar, 1979 World Champion Jody Scheckter revealed that a deal was about to be made but, negotiations fell apart due to the greed for money from the circuit officials. He told Total Motorsport earlier this year:

“I was an inside part of it, my nephew worked on it for six years.

“It was that close. The guy from Kyalami went from 500,000 to 2 million, and he wanted to take the whole thing over.

“F1 came over to sign. He had got government backing, some of the wealthiest people in South Africa behind it. Everything was in place, and the guy from Kyalami got greedy.

“Just as soon as F1 left, he changed the whole thing completely. The government realised there was a fight and withdrew, and that was the end. Maybe it’ll happen back here again. I don’t know.”

Africa Has FOM Backing

On a positive note, Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali confirmed in 2022 that Africa will be back on the calendar “very soon,” as other places apart from Kyalami were also interested in hosting the event. He told Sky Sports F1:

“We need to make sure when we do something new, that it has to be with the right partners and be stable fundamentals to stay longer.

“The only thing that I can say that after the first contact with Kyalami is that there are other places in Africa that are interested on Formula One.

“That’s a very clear target: Africa will come back and hopefully very soon on our calendar.”