Formula 1 is set to return to the African continent for the first time since 1993 after the sport confirmed a 10-year deal to host a race in Rwanda from “the early 2030s.”
After years of speculation about a return to the continent, F1 announced its plans for the “African Grand Prix” in a statement with Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame on Tuesday.
The precise starting date of the new contract was not specified and is reliant on the construction of a purpose-built circuit in Bugesera, 40 kilometres south of Rwanda’s capital Kigali, which is set to be completed “early in the next decade.”
The track, which will be built adjacent to the new Kigali International Airport, will be developed to the FIA Grade 1 standards required for F1 racing.
The last F1 race on the continent took place in South Africa in 1993 on the Kyalami circuit near Johannesburg, and Kagame described the sport’s arrival in Rwanda as a moment that “belongs to Africa.”
“For more than three decades, the world’s premier motorsport championship has raced without this continent, and that changes with this agreement,” Kagame said.
“Rwanda is proud to host the Formula 1 African Grand Prix, and to share this moment with more than 100 million fans across Africa, many of them young people who deserve to see the sport at home and to see themselves in it: as engineers, technicians, entrepreneurs and, one day, drivers.
“This ten-year partnership is also an investment in Rwanda’s future. The circuit in Bugesera, alongside the new international airport, will bring jobs, skills, tourism and new business to our country and our region for decades to come, because our aim was never a single race weekend, but a lasting benefit for our people.”
F1’s statement said the new circuit would “will be designed to work in harmony with the natural landscape, using the area’s elevation changes to create a unique and challenging racing experience while delivering exceptional viewing opportunities for fans.”
It confirmed the circuit would be used for other international motorsport events during the rest of the year.
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, who has long held an ambition for the sport to return to F1, said: “Today is a landmark moment for Formula 1. 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 1’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.
“I would like to thank His Excellency Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda, the Government of Rwanda, the Rwanda Development Board, FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem and everyone whose dedication and collaboration have made this possible.”
As recently as last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton spoke of the importance of F1 returning to Africa in the coming years.
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“I’ve always said that we need to have a Grand Prix in Africa,” Hamilton said. “It is, for me, the most important continent and the most beautiful continent. We’re on all the other continents but that one and there should be no reason for it.
“It’s something I’ve been pushing for in the background and Stefano’s been amazing -- he’s flown to Africa so many times over the last couple of years speaking to lots of different people and so I hope he has some news for me soon.”
The grand prix in Rwanda will be added to an already packed F1 calendar, which is currently maxed out with the sport’s self-imposed limit of 24 rounds per season.
Races in Portugal and Türkiye’s are set to return to the schedule next year, following on from the addition of a new venue in Madrid this year.