South African Grand Prix

Prince George Circuit (1934–1966) Kyalami (1967–1985, 1992–1993)
Race information
Number of times held	33
First held	1934
Last held	1993
Most wins (drivers)	Jim Clark (4)
Most wins (constructors)	Lotus (6)
Last race (1993)
Pole position
Alain Prost Williams-Renault 1:15.696
Podium
1. Alain Prost Williams-Renault 1:38:45.082 2. Ayrton Senna McLaren-Ford +1:19.824 3. Mark Blundell Ligier-Renault +1 lap
Fastest lap
Alain Prost Williams-Renault 1:19.492

The South African Grand Prix was first run as a Grand Prix motor racing handicap race in 1934 at the Prince George Circuit at East London, Cape Province. It drew top drivers from Europe including Bernd Rosemeyer, Richard "Dick" Seaman, Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth and the 1939 winner Luigi Villoresi.

World War II brought an end to the race, but it was revived in 1960 as part of the Formula One circuit, entering the World Championship calendar two years later. It was a popular F1 event, but the Grand Prix was suspended right after the controversial 1985 race, due to the nation's policy of apartheid.^[1] Following the end of apartheid in 1991, the race returned to the Formula One schedule in 1992 and 1993. The 1993 race was the last South African Grand Prix, as of 2023^[update]. Plans to revive the race in 2024 have been abandoned.^[2]

The first South African Grands Prix were held on a 24.4 km (15.2 mi) road course known as the Prince George Circuit, running through different populated areas of the coastal city of East London. This was shortened to 17.7 km (11.0 mi) in 1936. When racing resumed after World War II, a permanent circuit was built in 1959 that retained the name Prince George Circuit. The first World Championship F1 race in South Africa was held on 29 December 1962. In that race, Graham Hill took advantage of Jim Clark's mechanical problems with his Lotus and took race victory and the championship. The race was held at Prince George again in 1963, 1965 and 1966, the latter relegated to non-championship status as a new 3-litre formula came into effect on the same day.^[3] In 1967, the race was moved to the Kyalami circuit near the high-altitude inland city of Johannesburg in the Transvaal, where it would remain as long as the South African Grand Prix was on the official Formula One calendar.

The fast Kyalami circuit, which was built in the early 1960s, played host to its first South African Grand Prix in 1967, where privateer John Love nearly took victory but ran into fuel problems late in the race, and Mexican Pedro Rodríguez took victory. 1968 saw Clark take victory; he broke Juan Manuel Fangio's record for most career wins and it turned out to be his last F1 victory; he was killed at a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim later that year. 1969 saw Jackie Stewart win, and the following year 44-year-old veteran Jack Brabham won his last F1 race. 1971 saw American Mario Andretti win his maiden Grand Prix, on debut for Ferrari. 1974 saw American Peter Revson crash horribly at Barbeque Bend during testing for the race and slam head-on to the barriers; he later died from his injuries. Argentine Carlos Reutemann won for the first time at that year's event. 1975 saw South African Jody Scheckter take victory. The 1977 event was the location of one of the most gruesome crashes in history, as Tom Pryce was killed when he hit and killed track marshal Frederick Jansen Van Vuuren at full speed. Niki Lauda won the race, but the accident sent shock waves throughout the sport. 1978 saw Ronnie Peterson take a late victory from Patrick Depailler and Riccardo Patrese; the 1979 event was held in changeable weather conditions and was won by Canadian Gilles Villeneuve.

Going into the 1980s, turbo-charged cars began to dominate the Grand Prix. Because of the high altitude of the fast Kyalami circuit (approximately 6,000 feet above sea level) the forced induction turbo engines could regulate how much air went into the engine whereas the normally aspirated engines could not; the turbo-charged engines had a horsepower advantage in 1982 of 150 hp over the normally aspirated engines, and often qualified on the front row of the grid considerably faster than the normally aspirated engined cars; and the Renault team dominated both the 1980 and 1982 races; Frenchman Alain Prost won the 1982 race after he lost a wheel around mid-distance; he charged through the field and took victory from Carlos Reutemann.^[4] The 1981 event was a victim of the FISA–FOCA war. As agreement could not be reached with FISA for the Grand Prix to be run as a round of the Formula One World Championship or as a non-championship Formula One race, it was officially staged as a Formula Libre event. Consequently, it was contested only by the FOCA-aligned teams, with cars which did not strictly comply with the 1981 Formula One regulations.^[5] The 1983 event was the last race of that season, and it saw a three-way battle for the Drivers' Championship between Prost, Brazilian Nelson Piquet and Frenchman René Arnoux. Prost and Arnoux both went out with engine problems and Piquet took 3rd place and the Drivers' Championship; Prost made scathing comments about Renault's conservative approach to developing the car, and he was fired from the team. Piquet's Italian teammate Riccardo Patrese won the race. 1984 saw the event take place early in the season, and Prost (now driving for McLaren) started from the pit lane in the spare car after his race car didn't start. This was made legal when the first start was aborted after Briton Nigel Mansell stalled on the grid. Prost drove through the field to finish 2nd behind his teammate Niki Lauda. Briton Derek Warwick completed the podium in a Renault and Brazilian future world champion Ayrton Senna scored his first point in a Toleman, finishing 6th.

The 1985 race was mired in international controversy as nations began boycotting South African sporting events because of a state of emergency declared by the South African government in July of that year because of a surge of violence related to racial segregation in the country, called apartheid. Most people involved in Formula One were strongly against going to race in South Africa. Some governments tried to ban their drivers from going,^[6] and the Ligier and Renault teams did boycott the race in line with the French Government's ban on sporting events in South Africa;^[7] however French drivers Alain Prost, who had wrapped up the 1985 championship in the previous race,^[8] and Philippe Streiff, both driving for British teams, did take part. British driver Nigel Mansell won his second consecutive Formula One race and his teammate Keke Rosberg stormed around the track after 2 pitstops to take 2nd, completing a 1–2 for the Williams team.^[8] 1985 was the final South African Grand Prix until the end of apartheid, with FIA president Jean-Marie Balestre announcing days after the race that a Grand Prix would not return to the nation because of apartheid.^[1]

After the end of apartheid in 1991, Formula One returned to Kyalami for two Grands Prix in 1992 and 1993. The 1992 event was dominated by Mansell and the 1993 running saw an intense battle between Prost, Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher, with Prost taking victory. In July 1993 Kyalami was sold to the South African Automobile Association, which managed to run the facility at a profit; however, running a Formula One event proved too costly and the Grand Prix did not return, that year's race having also been the last time that F1 came to the African continent.

The only South African driver to win the South African Grand Prix was Jody Scheckter in 1975. British driver Jim Clark won it 4 times and Austrian driver Niki Lauda won 3 times.

In April 2018, The South African discussed the possibility of South Africa returning to the Formula One Grand Prix calendar with Adrian Scholtz, CEO of Motorsport South Africa. He said that the main obstacles are the high costs of hosting such an event and the fact that currently no South African racetrack fulfills the FIA requirements to host a Formula One race, although Kyalami comes close.^[9]

In early 2023, a deal for a return of the South African Grand Prix for the 2024 season was close to finalization, but in June 2023, the FIA declared that the South African Grand Prix would not return to the F1 calendar for the near future due to the South African government's stance on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[10]

A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship.

Wins	Driver	Years won
4	Jim Clark	1961, 1963, 1965, 1968
3	Niki Lauda	1976, 1977, 1984
2	Jackie Stewart	1969, 1973
	Carlos Reutemann	1974, 1981
	Nigel Mansell	1985, 1992
	Alain Prost	1982, 1993
Sources:[11]

A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship.

Teams in bold are competing in the Formula One championship in the current season.

Wins	Constructor	Years won
6	Lotus	1961, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1978
4	Ferrari	1971, 1976, 1977, 1979
	Williams	1981, 1985, 1992, 1993
2	Maserati	1934, 1939
	Cooper	1960, 1967
	Tyrrell	1973, 1975
	Renault	1980, 1982
	Brabham	1970, 1983
	McLaren	1972, 1984
Source:[11]

A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship.

Manufacturers in bold are competing in the Formula One championship in the current season.

Wins	Manufacturer	Years won
8	Ford *	1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1981
5	Climax	1960, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1966
4	Ferrari	1971, 1976, 1977, 1979
	Renault	1980, 1982, 1992, 1993
3	Maserati	1934, 1939, 1967
Source:[11]

* Built by Cosworth

A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship.

Year	Driver	Constructor	Location	Report
1934	Whitney Straight	Maserati 8CM	East London	Report
1935	Not held
1936	Mario Massacuratti	Bugatti 35B	East London	Report
1937	Pat Fairfield	ERA-B		Report
1938	Buller Meyer	Riley		Report
1939	Luigi Villoresi	Maserati 6CM		Report
1940 – 1959	Not held
1960[12]	Paul Frère	Cooper-Climax	East London	Report
	Stirling Moss	Porsche		Report
1961	Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax		Report
1962	Graham Hill	BRM	East London	Report
1963	Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax		Report
1964	Not held
1965	Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax	East London	Report
1966	Mike Spence	Lotus–Climax	East London	Report
1967	Pedro Rodríguez	Cooper-Maserati	Kyalami	Report
1968	Jim Clark	Lotus-Ford		Report
1969	Jackie Stewart	Matra-Ford		Report
1970	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Ford		Report
1971	Mario Andretti	Ferrari		Report
1972	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Ford		Report
1973	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Ford		Report
1974	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Ford		Report
1975	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford		Report
1976	Niki Lauda	Ferrari		Report
1977	Niki Lauda	Ferrari		Report
1978	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford		Report
1979	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari		Report
1980	René Arnoux	Renault		Report
1981	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford		Report
1982	Alain Prost	Renault		Report
1983	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW		Report
1984	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG		Report
1985	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda		Report
1986 – 1991	Not held due to Apartheid
1992	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault	Kyalami	Report
1993	Alain Prost	Williams-Renault		Report
Source:[11]

External videos
South African Grand Prix, 1979. AP Archive – British Movietone News footage.

• ChicaneF1 Archived 5 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine