By Razeen Gutta
Dreams of a South African edition of the Formula One are still very much alive with Patricia de Lille and Gayton McKenzie set to hold talks with authorities in Abu Dhabi later this year.
Fans of F1 in South Africa could well have something exciting to look forward to after de Lille spoke out on the event’s potential to add to country’s tourism income.
Speaking to Bloomberg, the tourism minister said that the government were considering budgeting for the event.
“The authorities are considering using a portion of the Tourism Ministry’s infrastructure budget to develop facilities that would be needed to support the event. Such a project would have to get cabinet approval,” de Lille said.
Last month, sports, arts and culture minister McKenzie said on social media that he was in talks with international automobile federation (FIA) president Mohamed Ben Sulayem over South Africa’s bid; and that he was left “highly impressed” by the conversation.
Talks in Abu Dhabi are set to continue later this year, according to multiple reports, with the news coming after legendary Mercedes-Benz driver Lewis Hamilton said that it was time for the sport to give back to Africa.
“We can’t be adding races in other locations and continuing to ignore Africa, which the rest of the world just takes from. No one gives anything to Africa,” Hamilton said at the Dutch Grand Prix back in August.
South Africa’s last F1 race was held in 1993 at the Kyalami grand prix circuit Johannesburg.
Pictured above: Kyalami grand prix circuit
Source: @kyalamigrandprixcircuit
