Formula 1 announced on Tuesday that Rwanda will host a race starting in “the early 2030s”, when the series returns to Africa after about 40 years.
A project was announced last year to build a track to bring F1 back to the North African nation but there have been few updates since. Racing in Africa will fulfil a long-held ambition for seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, the only Black driver in F1. “With Rwanda joining the calendar from the next decade our sport will race in every inhabited continent, bringing the world championship closer than ever to fans around the globe.
The African Grand Prix will have a 10-year contract and take place at a track in Bugesera, southeast of the capital Kigali. F1 also held a Moroccan Grand Prix in 1958, the only time Morocco was part of the world championship.
F1 said the purpose-built track will be ready “early in the next decade. Rwandan President Paul Kagame said at a launch event in Kigali that it was “a success and a milestone for the entire continent, especially for the African fans,” adding he hoped it could lead to more F1 events in Africa. The 41-year-old British driver has said he has been “fighting in the background” for years to have a race in Africa. “Today is a landmark moment for Formula 1,” F1 President and chief executive Stefano Domenicali said. South Africa Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie issued a statement last week congratulating Rwanda, even before the decision was official, but still insisted his country “will get F1,” too.
There was no mention of South Africa in F1’s statement on Tuesday.
