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 \u201cthe early 2030s.\u201d<\/p>\n
After years of speculation about a return to the continent, F1 announced its plans for the \u201cAfrican Grand Prix\u201d in a statement with Rwanda\u2019s president Paul Kagame on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s capital Kigali, which is set to be completed \u201cearly in the next decade.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s arrival in Rwanda as a moment that \u201cbelongs to Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor more than three decades, the world\u2019s premier motorsport championship has raced without this continent, and that changes with this agreement,\u201d Kagame said.<\/p>\n
\u201cRwanda 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis ten-year partnership is also an investment in Rwanda\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
F1\u2019s statement said the new circuit would \u201cwill be designed to work in harmony with the natural landscape, using the area\u2019s elevation changes to create a unique and challenging racing experience while delivering exceptional viewing opportunities for fans.\u201d<\/p>\n
It confirmed the circuit would be used for other international motorsport events during the rest of the year.<\/p>\n
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, who has long held an ambition for the sport to return to F1, said: \u201cToday 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfrica has always been part of Formula 1\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
As recently as last weekend\u2019s Singapore Grand Prix, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton spoke of the importance of F1 returning to Africa in the coming years.<\/p>\n
– \u2018Chucky\u2019 Verstappen is back. Luckily for Antonelli and Mercedes, it\u2019s too late – Rwanda F1 race: Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen welcome prospect <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always said that we need to have a Grand Prix in Africa,\u201d Hamilton said. \u201cIt is, for me, the most important continent and the most beautiful continent. We\u2019re on all the other continents but that one and there should be no reason for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019ve been pushing for in the background and Stefano\u2019s been amazing — he\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
The grand prix in Rwanda will be added to an already packed F1 calendar, which is currently maxed out with the sport\u2019s self-imposed limit of 24 rounds per season.<\/p>\n
Races in Portugal and T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s are set to return to the schedule next year, following on from the addition of a new venue in Madrid this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Formula 1 is set to return to the African continent for the first time since 1993 after the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":931429,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[2571,49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-931428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-auto-racing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=931428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/931429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=931428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=931428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=931428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}