Formula 1 has shelved plans to bring the South African Grand Prix to the calendar for 2024.
F1 CEO and president Stefano Domenicali has over the past year been in talks with circuit officials and other South African Grand Prix stakeholders to revive the event.
“There are areas of the world that wants to have Formula 1, and I think that one area that we want to develop is the African area,” the former Ferrari team principal said last year.
“We are a world championship, and that’s an area where we are not there.”
Seven-time world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton also strongly supports a return to Kyalami.
“I like the direction personally that [F1] is going in,” he said at last month’s Miami Grand Prix
“I’ve been here, like many people, here a long time. I like the change that we are seeing and it’s exciting coming to different parts of the world and different circuits.
“We’re on all the other continents, so I’m hoping we get to go to Africa soon and that will be an amazing experience for the whole circus to experience the culture there.”
There were considerations to add it to the 2023 calendar after the cancellation of the Chinese Grand Prix and Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix due to the COVID-19 pandemic and flooding respectively. The decision was however not taken.
According to Autosport, a South African Grand Prix will not go ahead until at least 2025 as there is a reluctance to push ahead with unstainable plans for a 2024 race that might lead to the event collapsing.
The delay comes after accusations by the United States ambassador to South Africa that the country has supplied arms to Russia in the ongoing conflict with Ukraine. F1 terminated its Russian Grand Prix contract last year upon the commencement of the conflict that has drawn global condemnation.
