The President of Rwanda has confirmed his country's plans to bring Formula 1 racing back to Africa amid ongoing discussions with the sport's chiefs.
Formula 1 has not raced in Africa since the 1993 South African Grand Prix in Kyalami, with plans to return the event to the calendar in recent years never finally being implemented. Formula 1 boss Stefano Domenicali met with representatives of the Rwanda bid in September.
The route will be a permanent circuit near the planned Bugesera airport near Kigali.
Rwanda hosted the FIA General Assembly this week for the first time, which concludes with the end-of-season Driver and Team Awards on Friday when World Championship awards are officially presented across motorsport.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame opened the General Assembly meeting on Friday with the governing body and said: “I am pleased to officially announce that Rwanda is seeking to bring the excitement of racing back to Africa, by hosting the Formula 1 Grand Prix.
“Many thanks to Stefano Domenicali and the entire team at Formula 1 for the good progress in our discussions so far. I assure you that we are treating this opportunity with the seriousness and commitment it deserves.”
When can a race in Africa join the Formula 1 calendar?
The Formula 1 calendar for 2025 has already been set, so the soonest a race could join the schedule in Rwanda would be in 2026.
Formula 1 recently announced that the Dutch Grand Prix will be dropped from the calendar after 2026, thus opening up a potential venue for a new race in 2027, which would also give time to design a new track. However, there is no specific timetable for holding the race in Africa, but Rwanda is leading the continent's project.
Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton, who will join Ferrari from January, said Rwanda was one of his “favourite places” to visit after he explored different countries in Africa this summer.
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“We cannot add races in other locations and continue to ignore Africa, which is taking the rest of the world away from it,” Hamilton said in August. “No one gives anything to Africa.”
“There's a huge amount of work to be done there. I think a lot of people who have never been to the world don't realize how beautiful the place is and how vast it is. And they probably don't even know what countries are still doing to those places in terms of retreat.”
“So I think having a Grand Prix there will really be able to highlight how amazing the place is and bring in tourism and all kinds of things.”
Rwanda has sought to increase tourism to the country in recent years as well as promoting itself through sport, including a sponsorship contract with Arsenal Football Club.
However, Rwanda's human rights record has come under scrutiny. Human Rights Watch submitted evidence to the UK’s International Conventions Committee in December 2023, saying: “Serious human rights violations continue to occur in Rwanda, including suppression of freedom of expression, arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and torture by the Rwandan authorities.” “Rwanda remains tightly closed and the opposition faces routine threats and harassment.”
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