Rwanda's president has confirmed that the country's plans to bring the Formula 1 race back to Africa are in ongoing discussions with the sport's leaders.
F1 has not raced in Africa since the 1993 South African Grand Prix in Kyalami, with plans to bring the event back to the calendar in recent years failing to materialise. F1 president Stefano Domenicali met with representatives of the Rwanda bid in September.
The route would be a permanent circuit near the proposed Bugesera airport near Kigali.
Rwanda is hosting this week's FIA general assembly for the first time, which culminates with the end-of-season awards and team awards on Friday where the world championship trophies are presented to formal over motor sports.
The President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, opened Friday's General Assemblies meeting with the governing body and said: “I am happy to officially announce that Rwanda is bidding to bring back the racing sport that 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 approaching this opportunity with great confidence and commitment to he deserves it.”
When could a race in Africa join the F1 calendar?
The 2025 F1 calendar has already been set, so 2026 is the earliest race that could enter the schedule.
F1 recently announced that the Dutch Grand Prix would drop from the calendar after 2026, thus opening up a possible space for a new race in 2027, which would take time also to plan a new route. However, there is no definitive timetable for holding a race in Africa but Rwanda is leading the continent's project.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who joins Ferrari from January, said Rwanda is one of his “favourite places” to visit after exploring various African countries this summer .
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“We cannot put races elsewhere and continue to ignore Africa, which the rest of the world is taking from. No one is giving anything to Africa,” Hamilton said in August.
“There is a lot of work to be done there. I think that there is a lot of the world that has not been there that does not understand how beautiful the place is, how big it is. And maybe they don't know what the countries are still doing to these places in terms of holding back.
“So I think the Grand Prix will be able to highlight how good the place is and bring in tourism and all that sort of thing.”
Rwanda has looked to increase tourism to the country in recent years as well as promoting itself through sport, including a sponsorship deal with Arsenal FC.
However, Rwanda's human rights record has come under scrutiny. Human Rights Watch submitted evidence to the UK's International Agreements Committee in December 2023, stating: “Severe human rights abuses 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 threats and harassment of the opposition are routine.”
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