Boardroom Talk
Boardroom Talk – SA Grand Prix’s 2024 return botched by Putin immunity promise
Egged on by the “dream” endorsement of F1 champion Lewis Hamilton and receptive post-Ecclestone business partners, the planets were aligned.
By Alec Hogg*
A highlight growing up was the annual trek from our Newcastle home to the Kyalami racetrack for the South African Grand Prix. I shared the back of the bakkie with Dad's scaffolding that gave us an excellent view of those triumphs by superstars Jackie Stewart, Mario Andretti, Niki Lauda and our home town hero Jody Scheckter.
After moving to Joburg, a perk of my job was getting invited by some media schmoozing company or other to a race watched everywhere on earth. But in 1993, champagne from the giant bottles got sprayed at Kyalami for the last time. Formula One left SA. Since then, the race has never really looked like returning.
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