“Dua jam yang lalu, Gloria Aradi, BBC News, Nairobi Joy Jeptoo/Instagram Penggemar Kenya Joy Jeptoo mengadakan pesta nonton F1 populer di Nairobi. Joy Jeptoo, seorang influencer media sosial berusia 24 tahun dari Kenya, menghabiskan beberapa ribu dolar tahun lalu untuk menghadiri pembuka musim Formula 1 di Bahrain dan balapan terakhir musim di ibu kota Uni Emirat Arab, Abu Dhabi. Dia menyamakan gairahnya dengan cara “penggemar sepak bola selalu ingin pergi ke stadion untuk mendukung tim mereka dan juga menjelajahi negara baru”. Timur Tengah, yang menyelenggarakan empat balapan F1 setiap tahun, telah menjadi tujuan populer bagi Afrika yang ingin menonton balapan secara langsung. Namun, mereka tidak dapat menikmati balapan di benua mereka sendiri karena Afrika tetap menjadi satu-satunya yang dikecualikan dari kalender balapan F1. Bagi beberapa anggota komunitas F1 terbesar Kenya, Paddock Experience, menghadiri balapan telah menjadi tradisi tahunan, dengan orang menghabiskan lebih dari $ 2.500 (£ 2.000) untuk melihat satu acara. Mereka termasuk di antara generasi baru penggemar fanatik F1 Afrika yang berkembang pesat, olahraga yang secara historis berpusat di Eropa mengalami boom belum pernah terjadi sebelumnya di benua itu. Di Afrika Utara, jumlah penonton televisi telah meningkat lebih dari tiga kali lipat dan mereka di belakang F1 melihat seluruh benua sebagai pasar potensial di TV dan platform digital. Max Verstappen mengakhiri Kejuaraan Pembalap 2023, yang dia dominasi, dengan kemenangan di Abu Dhabi Banyak penggemar menyalahkan lonjakan minat F1 di Afrika pada efek Netflix. Drive to Survive, seri dokumenter di balik layar yang mendetailkan rivalitas dramatis dalam olahraga itu, dikreditkan telah membawa olahraga itu melewati audiens inti Eropa. “Saat Anda menjelajahi Netflix dan kemudian Anda melihat Drive to Survive, Anda akhirnya menonton dan kemudian Anda tertarik pada olahraga itu,” kata Nyonya Jeptoo. Kamal Onyedikachukwu, seorang Nigeria di balik akun berita F1 F1 Naija di X, mengatakan bahwa pandemi Covid meningkatkan minat karena orang mulai menonton Drive to Survive selama lockdown. Dia percaya bahwa teknologi adalah salah satu kekuatan penggerak di balik kehadiran F1 yang semakin berkembang di Afrika. Ketika dia mulai mengikuti olahraga itu pada 2005, satu-satunya cara untuk menontonnya di Nigeria adalah dengan menonton ulang balapan di TV terestrial. Penggemar sekarang dapat mengakses balapan langsung dengan berlangganan F1 TV, layanan streaming resmi Formula 1, dengan harga mulai dari $ 4 per bulan, atau melalui saluran Motorsport, yang tersedia di DStv, layanan TV berlangganan terbesar Afrika. Sementara pesta nonton F1 telah menjadi alternatif populer bagi penggemar yang menginginkan pengalaman balapan yang lebih seru. Kuis, minuman gratis, hadiah dalam undian, dan musik ditawarkan untuk menggiurkan penggemar meninggalkan sofa dan keluar dari rumah. Di ibu kota Kenya, Nairobi, tempat hiburan bersaing untuk menarik penggemar dan dompet mereka selama akhir pekan balapan. Paddock Experience Paddock Experience, salah satu komunitas F1 terbesar di Kenya, menarik hingga 1.400 penggemar untuk pesta nonton balapan mereka. Nyonya Jeptoo sering dipekerjakan oleh tempat hiburan di kota itu untuk menjadi tuan rumah pesta F1 dan menarik penggemar yang bisa menghabiskan banyak uang untuk makanan dan minuman selama balapan. Dia mengatakan bahwa tempat hiburan memilih tuan rumah dengan “keterlibatan dan pengaruh”. Dengan lebih dari 40.000 pengikut di Instagram dan hampir 100.000 di X, Nyonya Jeptoo cocok dengan kriteria tersebut. Paddock Experience, yang dijalankan oleh teman dan penggemar F1 sejak lama Mbalu Makau, Mose Mokuah dan Andrew Alovi, telah mengadakan pesta nonton sejak 2021, ketika popularitas olahraga dimulai melambung di Kenya. Mereka bermitra dengan tempat hiburan di Nairobi dan tempat lainnya, membawa penggemar yang menghabiskan rata-rata $ 15 hingga $ 22 setiap orang untuk makanan dan minuman. Mereka menarik kerumunan hingga 1.400 orang pada beberapa hari balapan. Mereka juga memiliki hubungan dengan klub F1 di Ghana, di mana pesta nonton telah menjadi fenomena besar. Penggemar perempuan dari apa yang biasanya merupakan olahraga yang didominasi laki-laki juga meningkat di Afrika. “Yang saya perhatikan dari interaksi saya setiap akhir pekan adalah bahwa kami memiliki lebih banyak wanita yang datang untuk belajar tentang olahraga, bukan hanya kilau dan glamour dari apa yang olahraga tersebut, tetapi juga sisi rekayasa hal tersebut,” kata Nyonya Onyedikachukwu. Free drinks and music are also offered to entice fans from their sofas and out of their homes. “When you’re scrolling on Netflix and then you see Drive to Survive, you end up watching and then you get interested in the sport,” Ms Jeptoo says. Kamal Onyedikachukwu, a Nigerian behind the F1 news account F1 Naija on X, says that the Covid pandemic boosted interest as people started watching Drive to Survive during lockdowns. He believes that technology is another driving force behind F1’s growing presence in Africa. When he started following the sport in 2005, the only way of viewing it in Nigeria was by watching playbacks of races on terrestrial TV. Fans can now access live races by subscribing to F1 TV, the official streaming service for Formula 1, with prices starting at $4 a month, or through the Motorsport channel, which is available on DStv, Africa’s biggest subscription TV service. While F1-viewing parties have become a popular alternative for fans who desire more exciting race experiences. Quizzes, free drinks, prize giveaways and music are on offer to entice fans off their sofas and out of their homes. In Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, entertainment hotspots compete to lure fans and their wallets during race weekends. Paddock Experience Paddock Experience, one of Kenya’s largest F1 communities, pulls up to 1,400 fans for its race-viewing parties. Ms Jeptoo is often hired by entertainment venues in the city to host F1 parties and draw in fans who can spend generously on food and drinks during races. She says that entertainment hotspots go for hosts with “engagement and influence”. With more than 40,000 followers on Instagram and nearly 100,000 on X, Ms Jeptoo fits the bill. Paddock Experience, run by friends and long-time F1 fans Mbalu Makau, Mose Mokuah and Andrew Alovi, has been hosting viewing parties since 2021, as the sport’s popularity started to soar in Kenya. They partner with entertainment hotspots in Nairobi and elsewhere, bringing in fans who spend an average of $15 to $22 each on food and drink. They pull in crowds of up to 1,400 on some race days. They also have relationships with F1 clubs in Ghana, where viewing parties have become a big phenomenon. Female fans of what has been a traditionally male-dominated sport are also on the rise in Africa. “What I’ve noticed from my interactions every weekend is that we have more women coming in to learn about the sport, not just the glitz and glamour of what the sport is, but also the engineering side of things,” Mr Onyedikachukwu says. Hairpins and Straights/Instagram Fans Baaba Jenkins and Queendela Adu-Poku say they have faced hostility in the male-dominated sport. Some female fans are taking on a more active role, such as Baaba Jenkins and Queendela Adu-Poku, two Ghanaian women working in finance in London. Their love for F1 has seen them travel to attend races around the world, from Singapore to Abu Dhabi, Britain and the Netherlands. The friends run the popular F1 podcast Hairpins and Straights, giving fans in-depth race reviews, interviews and content about travel to races. “We didn’t know where to start from. We didn’t have any ins into motorsport,” says Ms Adu-Poku. “It was just Baaba and I rambling on a podcast and trying to figure out the whole podcast space… literally starting from scratch, not being popular people, not knowing anything about the sport.” They were among those who discovered and developed an interest in F1 after watching Drive to Survive. The young women say they want to share their love for the sport through their podcast and use it to grow the representation of Africans involved in F1. But Ms Jenkins says they occasionally encounter hostility and prejudice from male fans who think women cannot have a genuine interest in the sport or only watch it for attractive male drivers. In such scenarios, she says, it is “very important to stand up for ourselves as women.” Getty Images South Africa’s Kyalami circuit hosted F1 races in the past, including in 1970 when Australia’s Jack Brabham won the grand prix. Despite the vast following F1 commands in Africa, the continent has not hosted an official race in more than three decades. African fans and the sport’s most successful, and only black, driver, Lewis Hamilton, have been rallying for its return to the continent, arguing that it is unfair for Africa to be left out while the US alone hosts three races a year. Although there have been reports about F1 mulling a return to Morocco or potentially racing in Rwanda or Zanzibar, the Kyalami circuit near Johannesburg in South Africa, is seen as the obvious venue choice. Kyalami, which hosted multiple F1 races between 1967 and 1993, is considered one of the sport’s most historic circuits. The long-awaited Formula 1 return to South Africa appeared possible in 2022, when the management of Kyalami met all the relevant groups. The process seemed on track until negotiations collapsed due to South Africa’s ties with Russia. Toby Venter, head of the OT Venter group of companies, which owns the Kyalami circuit, says that the mooted attendance of Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in South Africa plus the docking of a Russian ship at a naval base scuppered the plans. “Thereafter the Americans got cold feet,” he tells the BBC. He says the circuit had already “made extensive plans and preparations” to upgrade the circuit so “it was very sad that unfortunately, politics interfered”. He argues that F1 is “not a true world championship without Africa”. “I think if F1 came to Africa it would be packed because you have clubs in Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, everywhere… you would have the whole of Africa moving to that country to support F1.”
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