Africa

Formula 1 returns to Africa with ten-year Rwanda deal

African Grand Prix set for early 2030s on purpose-built Bugesera circuit, Kagame government beats South Africa bid as Amnesty cites torture and repression of free speech

Images

A rendered image of the planned new purpose-built track in Bugesera, 25 miles south of Kigali in Rwanda. Illustration: Formula 1/PA A rendered image of the planned new purpose-built track in Bugesera, 25 miles south of Kigali in Rwanda. Illustration: Formula 1/PA theguardian.com
Gilles Villeneuve holds the victory silver cup as his Ferrari teammate Jody Scheckter of South Africa douses them both with champagne to celebrate their one-two victory at the 1979 South African Grand Prix. Photograph: AP Gilles Villeneuve holds the victory silver cup as his Ferrari teammate Jody Scheckter of South Africa douses them both with champagne to celebrate their one-two victory at the 1979 South African Grand Prix. Photograph: AP theguardian.com
Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, speaks at the press conference to announce the deal to stage a Formula One grand prix. Photograph: Jean Bizimana/Reuters Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, speaks at the press conference to announce the deal to stage a Formula One grand prix. Photograph: Jean Bizimana/Reuters theguardian.com

Formula One has confirmed a ten-year agreement to race in Rwanda, returning the sport to Africa for the first time since Kyalami hosted the South African Grand Prix in 1993. The first race, to be known as the African Grand Prix, is set for the early 2030s on a purpose-built circuit in Bugesera, 40 kilometres south of Kigali. President Paul Kagame announced the deal at a press conference alongside F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali, who called it "a landmark moment for F1."

The agreement is backed by the Rwandan government and the Rwanda Development Board, which intend to develop the venue for motorsport, conferences and entertainment. Rwanda saw off a South African bid drawing on a growing domestic fanbase; F1 chose the long-term commitment and a purpose-built facility over a return to Kyalami. The circuit will be designed by WurzDesign, run by the former driver Alexander Wurz, and must be built and licensed to full FIA Grade 1 status — a process the early-2030s timescale exists to accommodate.

The deal extends an established strategy. Rwanda has recently hosted cycling's road world championships, cricket's Women's Challenge Trophy, the 2023 Fifa congress and the Basketball Africa League, and its tourist board sponsors the English club Aston Villa. Kagame announced his intention to bid at the 2024 FIA prize-giving gala, staged in Rwanda. Lewis Hamilton, who lobbied behind the scenes for six or seven years, said he had pressed stakeholders with a simple question: "There's one on every other continent, why not Africa?" The accumulation of sporting assets has drawn persistent accusations of sportswashing.

Kagame told the announcement conference that Rwanda was proud to share the moment with more than 100 million fans across Africa, many of them young people who deserve to see the sport at home. The venue will be built and bankrolled by the government whose record Amnesty International summarised in its criticism of the tourist board's Aston Villa sponsorship: "prolific in arbitrary detention, torture and the repression of free speech."