Mohammed Ben Sulayem advocates for the return of Formula 1 to Africa
The president of the FIA, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, admitted that motorsport should pay "more attention" to Africa, as Formula 1 is considering a return there in the near future.
Since 1993 and the South African Grand Prix at the Kyalami circuit, the African continent has not held any Formula 1 races on its soil. However, the F1 World Championship is starting a season with a record calendar of 24 races this year, but Africa remains the only inhabited continent that does not host any races.
The subject has been increasingly discussed in the past two years, and some drivers have expressed their desire to race in Africa. Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, who have a combined total of ten world championship titles, have called for the return of Formula 1 to South Africa. Although this is not currently being considered in the near future, the president of the FIA, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, has acknowledged the need to focus more intensively on a comeback of motorsport in Africa.
“We have excellent contacts in Africa. There should be more attention paid to Africa,” he said in an interview with Motorsport-Magazin.
In South Africa, they have a rich history in motorsport. Since last year, there have been many discussions about the return of Formula 1 to Kyalami. It would be a great thing for Africa.
Formula 1 seemed to be close to reaching an agreement with the Kyalami circuit for an inclusion in the calendar. Unfortunately, while a delegation from the FIA was present in South Africa, a “conflict of interest” brought an end to the negotiations. However, discussions resumed last year and the question of South Africa’s return to the calendar is now uncertain.
Mohammed Ben Sulayem also detailed the way in which the International Automobile Federation is seeking to strengthen ties in Africa from the source.
« In certain regions, we start from scratch, we call it “Motorsport in a Box”. It is a box that you receive from the FIA. It contains very simple equipment such as a stopwatch and phones. This way, you can at least carry out speed tests, he explained.
If we want to grow over there, we can’t do it from the top. I can’t give orders, water doesn’t flow downwards here. It’s the opposite, it goes from bottom to top. You have to start from the base. That’s why we recently launched “Motorsport in a Box”, and we are encouraging them to participate in motorsport, concluded Ben Sulayem.
Since 1950 and the creation of the World Championship, Formula 1 has raced in two African countries: Morocco, in 1958 on the Ain-Diab circuit located in Casablanca, and therefore South Africa, on two different circuits. The Prince George circuit in East London hosted three races between 1962 and 1965, and then Kyalami organized twenty GPs between 1967 and 1993.
