24/01/2024
NEWS STORY
As it launches its own initiative on the continent, FIA president, Mohammed ben Sulayem says that motor sport must pay more attention to Africa.
His call comes as the FIA's 'Motorsport in a Box' initiative is launched in a bid to garner more interest at grass roots level and as Lewis Hamilton continues his call for Africa to be included in the F1 schedule.
Last June it was revealed that F1 had abandoned plans for a return to South Africa as a result of the country's support for Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
Having last hosted a round of the world championship in 1993, the country's Kyalami circuit was eyeing a return to the calendar, with F1 bosses, the teams and Hamilton in full support.
Only last month, the seven-time world champion renewed his call for the continent to be recognised.
"This sport is growing massively," he said. "I'm on to Stefano because I really want to get the race in South Africa or in Africa. So if it's not South Africa, it will be somewhere else there hopefully, because we're on all the other continents."
Following the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, F1 CEO, Stefano Domenicali headed to South Africa, leading many to believe that Kyalami was to be given the green light. However, when the World Motor Sport Council revealed the 2023 schedule that October it wasn't included.
"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," Domenicali subsequently told Sky Sports.
"It would be wrong to go there one year and then disappear if the conditions aren't done properly," he continued. "It's a matter of having the right financial assets, but also having the site ready for the weekend that we want to host in that place.
"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," he added. "That's a very clear target. Africa will come back and hopefully very soon on our calendar."
Previously, 1979 world champion, Jody Scheckter claimed the failure to return to South Africa was down to greed on the part of the Kyalami organisers.
"I was an inside part of it," he told Total Motorsport.com, "my nephew worked on it for six years.
"It was that close," he added. "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.
"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."
Undaunted, and aware that there is more to Africa than Kyalami, and even South Africa, the FIA president has been strengthening ties on the continent.
"We have very good contacts in Africa," he tells Motorsport-Magazin, "more attention should be focused on Africa. We have a good vice president in Africa, we are strengthening the clubs there.
"In South Africa, they have a lot of history in motorsport," he added. "Since last year, there has been a lot of talk about Formula 1 coming back to Kyalami. That would be a big thing for Africa.
"We are also thinking about an electric championship that would like to have Africa involved. That would be good too."
Asked about the new initiative aimed at grass roots motorsport, he said: "We call it 'Motorsport in a Box', this is a box that you get from the FIA. It contains very simply equipment such as timing and telephones. Then you can at least do speed tests.
"If we want to grow there, we can't do it from above," he continued. "I can't give orders, the water doesn't flow downwards here. It's the other way around, it goes from the bottom up. You have to start at the bottom.
"That's why we recently launched 'Motorsport in a Box', we're sending it to them and we're going to get them involved in motorsport."