Formula 1 returns to Africa, with Rwanda chosen as host

Kigali, where the agreement was announced. Archive view of 28 May 2018: Adrien K, CC BY 2.0.

Rwanda has landed its first Formula 1 Grand Prix. A ten-year agreement, announced in Kigali on Tuesday 13 October, will bring the championship to the country in the early 2030s. Africa can look forward to the return of a race it has not hosted for more than three decades.

The chosen location is Bugesera, about 40 kilometres south of Kigali, close to the new international airport serving the capital. The circuit has yet to be built. The exact year of the first edition and the date of the Grand Prix are still to be announced.

The last African Grand Prix: Kyalami, 14 March 1993

Alain Prost won the South African Grand Prix on 14 March 1993, driving a Williams-Renault at the Kyalami circuit, near Johannesburg.

That race opened the 1993 season. Thirty-three years later, it remains the last world championship round staged on the continent. The return planned for the start of the next decade would therefore end an absence of almost forty years.

South Africa is not the only African country to have hosted F1: Morocco staged a Grand Prix in 1958, near Casablanca. Rwanda would become the third country on the continent to host a world championship round. The announced return would therefore take place in East Africa, far from the sport's two historic African destinations.

Why the Grand Prix matters to Rwanda

The country made its bid official in 2024. The agreement announced in Kigali marks a step forward for the project: Formula 1 has now made a long-term commitment to staging a race there.

The decision builds on Rwanda's growing role as a host of major sporting events. The country has already staged the road cycling world championships, Basketball Africa League fixtures and, in 2024, the FIA general assemblies and prize-giving ceremony. With a Grand Prix, it would add a round of the Formula 1 world championship to that list.

The Bugesera project, led by the Rwanda Development Board, is meant to pair the circuit with facilities for tourism, business and other events. The Rwandan government and F1 leaders emphasise jobs, investment and training. Those are the project's aims; its benefits will depend on how it is delivered and run.

A deal signed, a circuit still to be built

The track will have to be developed to FIA Grade 1 standards, those required to host Formula 1. The announced contract therefore does not mean the circuit is already finished or homologated. The construction stages and the programme for the first race weekend will be confirmed later.