{"id":942885,"date":"2026-10-23T04:04:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T04:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/942885\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T04:04:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T04:04:20","slug":"lewis-hamilton-now-has-another-reason-to-stay-in-f1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/942885\/","title":{"rendered":"Lewis Hamilton Now Has Another Reason to Stay in F1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lewis Hamilton has quipped that he will be \u201cforced to have to stay a lot longer\u201d in Formula 1 following the announcement of an African Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Hamilton has been among the biggest advocates for Formula 1 to return to Africa for the first time since 1993, and last week the championship announced a comeback to the continent.<\/p>\n

The new African Grand Prix will take place at a permanent facility in Bugesera, close to Rwanda\u2019s capital city Kigali, with a 10-year deal to commence \u201cin the early 2030s.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamilton will be 45 by 2030\u2014the earliest possible year for Rwanda\u2019s first prospective event\u2014and contesting a grand prix in Africa remains an ambition for the seven-time champion.<\/p>\n

During an answer when asked about likely 2026 champion Kimi Antonelli, Hamilton said: \u201cI’m looking forward to racing with him longer, and we\u2019ll see. I mean, I\u2019m now forced to stay a lot longer because we have a race in Africa, and that\u2019s been my dream, to be able to race in Africa. So, yes, I have to keep fighting to try and stay fit. If I can still punch out good results over the next year, we\u2019ll keep it going!\u201d<\/p>\n

Expanding further on Formula 1\u2019s return to Africa, Hamilton said: \u201cI think for me, it\u2019s a place that deserves to have a Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

\"FormulaKatie Garner – Formula 1\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Construction of the new Bugesera International Airport in Rwanda.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about more than just one country. It\u2019s about the continent itself, and there are so many beautiful countries within it. The people are so lovely. The culture is so rich, and I think it\u2019s important that we get to show that to the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get to do that with our sport. We get to go to all these different countries, and people see some of these countries they didn\u2019t really know too much about. All of a sudden, it becomes something that\u2019s on the screen, and kids are talking about it. They go to school talking about it. So, I\u2019m really, really hopeful for that Grand Prix.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamilton hinted at acknowledging the political issues behind the event but expanded on the positive aspect of bringing Formula 1 back to the continent.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, I don\u2019t get to choose where we go,\u201d he said. \u201cNaturally, there are problems all over the world today, so I\u2019ve seen many of the stories. But I think we really have to approach it with humility. There\u2019s a lot that we don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up in England, they never taught us anything about Africa. It needs to be on the curriculum. A lot of the problems they have there are still results of colonialism and the West intervening.<\/p>\n

\"FormulaKatie Garner – Formula 1\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Mohammed ben Sulayem, FIA President (second from left), Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda (second from right), and Stefano Domenicali, CEO of the Formula One Group (right) talk on stage with Naomi Schiff after announcing a Formula 1 race to be hosted in Rwanda from the 2030s during a Formula 1 announcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if you go and see the people, you see so many designs that are out there today from top brands that come from Africa. It\u2019s got all the richest resources. I really hope, and I still have hope, that Africa unites.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing there doesn\u2019t mean that you neglect the things that are happening there. So hopefully many people start to educate themselves a little bit more about what is happening there and what has happened there for hundreds of years. I hope that does spark the conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then I guess I\u2019ll finish it off with this: I think we need to make sure we\u2019re pushing to free Congo, free Sudan, free Syria, free Palestine. I think there\u2019s a lot of peace that I\u2019m hoping we get to at some stage.\u201d
\n
<\/p>\n

\"Lettermark\"<\/p>\n

U.K.-based Phillip Horton started covering Grands Prix while still at university and swiftly deemed that writing about Formula 1 and the behind-the-scenes machinations was much more engaging than reading centuries-old novels. Degree gained, he went on to cover the sport full-time from 2014 and is as intrigued and excited by the destinations Formula 1 visits during its lengthy annual world tour as the racing itself. Phillip joined Autoweek in 2021 and while he has just about learned to spell in American English he has yet to find anywhere in America that makes a proper cup of tea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lewis Hamilton has quipped that he will be \u201cforced to have to stay a lot longer\u201d in Formula…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":942886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,782,322802,784,578,576,577,237154,1642,322801,273948,82,184740],"class_list":["post-942885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-5b83f81e-083d-4bcb-a770-8364aad10525","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-us","tag-shorttitle-hamilton-now-has-another-reason-to-stay-in-f1","tag-sponsored-false","tag-sports","tag-subsection-formula-one"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942885","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=942885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/942886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=942885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=942885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=942885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}