By Philbert Girinema
KIGALI, Oct 13 (Reuters) – Africa will return to the Formula One calendar for the first time since 1993 with Rwanda set to host a grand prix from the early 2030s in a 10-year deal announced on Tuesday.
Formula One last raced on the continent at South Africa’s Kyalami circuit to the north of Johannesburg and has long sought a way back.
The race will be called the African Grand Prix, presented by Visit Rwanda, and held at a circuit that is yet to be built alongside a new international airport under construction at Bugesera some 40km (25 miles) south of the capital Kigali.
“Today is a landmark moment for Formula One,” said F1 Chief Executive Stefano Domenicali at a press conference with Rwandan President Paul Kagame and International Automobile Federation (FIA) head Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
“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.
“Africa has always been part of Formula One’s future, and from the beginning we were determined to return in the right way, with the right partner, a long-term commitment and a clear vision for creating meaningful impact.”
MORE THAN JUST A GRAND PRIX
Kagame announced his landlocked East African country’s bid two years ago.
The purpose-built Grade One track, designed by Austrian former driver Alex Wurz with long-time F1 architect Tilke also involved, is expected to be completed early in the next decade and be fast and flowing with significant changes of elevation and putting spectators close to the action.
Jean-Guy Afrika, CEO of the Rwanda Development Board, said the track would have a 100,000 capacity and also be a multi-purpose facility with year-round utilisation as a concert and exhibition venue.
“We want to make it bigger than just Rwanda. We want to make it the moment when the sport came back to Africa and then never left,” he told a press conference, adding that the initiative would likely be “powered by the private sector and coordinated by the government”.
Rwanda will be the third African country to host a round of the championship since the start in 1950, with Morocco putting on a race outside Casablanca in 1958.
Domenicali also talked up the economic and social benefits through tourism and investment.
“For our fans this is an especially exciting moment,” he added. “Africa is home to more than 100 million Formula One fans and that number continues to grow rapidly.”
Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton, now 41 and racing for Ferrari, has said repeatedly that the time is right for a race in Africa and pushed for it to happen.
“I’ve always said that we need to have a Grand Prix in Africa. It is, for me, the most important continent and the most beautiful continent,” he told reporters in Singapore last weekend.
South Africa has also been exploring the possibilities of Cape Town or Kyalami, with sports minister Gayton Mackenzie saying recently that could still be possible on an already crowded calendar of 24 races.
“We are happy for Rwanda’s 2030 F1,” he wrote on X last week amid reports that an announcement was imminent. “They have worked on it longer than SA and deserve it.
“Some react like a continent of 55 countries can only get one,” he added, noting that Italy had until recently hosted two races a year and suggesting South Africa could still be in the frame.
REBUILDING AFTER 1994 GENOCIDE
Kagame has won praise from Western and regional leaders for helping to end the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and rebuilding the country into an attractive destination for investment and aid.
He also stands accused of a crackdown on critics at home, and supporting the M23 rebel group in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, who rights groups say are guilty of killings, rapes and other rights abuses.
The ‘Visit Rwanda’ tourism campaign has carried the country’s name into soccer through club sponsorships, basketball and cycling, with the 2025 UCI Road World Championships held there as well as the 2023 FIFA Congress and 2024 FIA Awards ceremony.
Formula One, with global attention, would represent another step up.
“Today belongs to Africa,” said Kagame. “For more than three decades, the world’s premier motorsport championship has raced without this continent and that changes with this agreement.
“This 10-year partnership is also an investment in Rwanda’s future. The circuit… alongside the new international airport, will bring jobs, skills, tourism and new business to our country and our region for decades to come.”
(Writing by Alan Baldwin in London, reporting by Nairobi newsroom ;Editing by Alexander Winning and Christian Radnedge)
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