F1 has announced a return to South Africa in March for its first Fan Festival of 2020 season with Mercedes, Renault and Red Bull Racing in attendance.
After the success of previous editions of F1 Fan Festival which came into existence since Liberty Media took over the sport, they are returning again in 2020. They have had the events in the United Kingdom, United States of America, China and Europe.
To add to the list, F1 will be returning to the African continent with a Fan Festival in Johannesberg in South Africa, on March 29 – between the Bahrain GP and Vietnam GP. Mercedes, Renault and Red Bull are the teams which will be featuring in the event.
In addition, the Fan Festival will have a special guest in the form of the 1979 F1 champion Jody Scheckter, who won the championship with Ferrari. It is the first event announced by Liberty Media for 2020, with more is likely to be added.
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Valtteri Bottas will be driving for Mercedes while David Coulthard will be representing Red Bull. The event will include a ‘DHL esports Challenge’ and ‘Pirelli Pit-Stop’ Challenge with range of supercars, SA Karting, F1600 and historic single seaters on display.
The event will broadcasted on SuperSport channel. F1’s Ellie Norman said: “We are excited to announce that F1 will be heading to South Africa this season, with the Heineken F1 Joburg festival. South Africa has a very special place in Formula 1 history and we remain committed to returning to South Africa in the future.
“The festival will be an incredible opportunity for the people of Johannesburg to see F1 up close and personal, with live car runs, fan experiences and incredible live music acts.” Gerrit Van Loo from Heineken, South Africa, stated:
“Heineken has a long-term association with F1 globally. In true Heineken style we aim to show the world how F1 is more than a race. We are thus immensely excited to utilize our global partnership with F1 to help bring this once in a lifetime event, the Heineken F1 Joburg Festival, to the people of Mzansi.”
Former racer and President of South African GP, Scheckter, added: “I’m delighted that Formula 1 and SAGP have come together to bring an F1 Festival to South Africa for the first time and I am very excited to be involved in what promises to be an amazing spectacle on the streets of Joburg, South Africa has a long history with F1 and the Festival will provide a chance for fans to get up, close and personal with the sport.”
And finally, Morakane Mosupyoe, Gauteng MEC for Economic Development said: “Gauteng is undoubtedly Africa’s entertainment, lifestyle and business capital. It is the home of champions and an aspiring motor city region.
“The hosting of this first ever African F1 Festival on our shores bodes well with our provincial drive to use the hosting of quality business, sporting and lifestyle events as a catalyst for socio-economic growth, job creation and destination marketing efforts to grow Gauteng together.”
The last time Kyalami hosted a South African GP was in 1993 when Alain Prost won the race for Williams-Renault. The circuit promoters have hinted on bringing back the F1 race to the circuit with talks ongoing as per reports but nothing is firm so far.
Here’s the last from Sean Bratches on South Africa and F1
Here’s official trailer of Drive to Survive
Here’s list of all the details for 2020 season
Here’s Pirelli test calendar for 2020 season
Here’s the list of the partner/sponsor teams have
