Formula 1's proposed return to South Africa in the not-too-distant future is ‘on the brink' of failure, according to a leading Cape Town politician.
The $500m bid – which would see the sport go back to a country which last hosted a grand prix at Kyalami, near Johannesburg, all the way back in 1993 – is in doubt with claims that the consortium of private investors behind the project has not received the necessary support from the Western Cape premier, Ebrahim Rasool. The success of the initiative – which would see a circuit built near to the city's airport – depends upon the government freeing up the required land on which the track would be constructed.
“[The investors] are concerned about the province's evident opposition to the project,” Simon Grindrod, leader of the Cape Town caucus, is quoted as having said by
Cape Business News. “A simple yes or no from the province would suffice. The investors can then make alternative plans.”
He added that the government's indecision meant that Cape Town was ‘on the brink of losing the project', as the ‘frustrated investors' were deliberating taking their money elsewhere.
Meanwhile, ticket sales for this year's Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona are down, according to
F1-Live. Last year – at the height of ‘Alonso-mania' – a record attendance of 141,700 spectators packed the Circuit de Catalunya to capacity.
There are still as many as 20,000 empty grandstand seats for the 2008 edition, however, with Alonso's lack of front-running machinery at
Renault – after the double world champion was able to fight for victory in each of the last three years, triumphing in 2006 and finishing up on the podium on three further occasions since 2003 – believed to be at the root of the slump.
