Rwanda lands Formula 1’s African Grand Prix on a ten-year deal
The race runs on a circuit in Bugesera that still has to be built, the first edition is expected early in the next decade, and it is Africa's first Grand Prix since Kyalami in 1993
Formula 1 will race in Africa again. On Tuesday morning F1 announced a ten-year agreement with the government of Rwanda for the Formula 1 African Grand Prix, presented by Visit Rwanda. It will be the first world championship race on the continent since the 1993 South African Grand Prix at Kyalami.
There is no date yet. The first race will be held once a new purpose-built circuit in Bugesera has been completed, which F1 expects to be early in the next decade. Details on the inaugural race date, circuit development milestones and race weekend plans will be announced in due course, according to F1’s official announcement.
A circuit that still has to be built
The track will be located about 40 kilometres south of the capital Kigali, next to the new Kigali International Airport. It will be built to FIA Grade 1 standard as part of a wider sports, tourism, infrastructure and commercial project led by the Rwanda Development Board.
F1 says the layout will use the elevation changes of the area to create a challenging track with good viewing for spectators. Outside race weekends, the venue is meant to host other international motorsport, major events, conferences and entertainment all year round.
The announcement does not name a designer. Earlier reports pointed to WurzDesign, the company of former F1 driver and GPDA chairman Alexander Wurz, which was already linked to the project when Rwanda first presented its plans in 2024. F1 also does not say in which year the ten-year term begins.
“Today belongs to Africa”
Rwandan president Paul Kagame, who launched the bid at the FIA General Assemblies in Kigali in December 2024, framed the deal as a continental moment.
“Today belongs to Africa. For more than three decades, the world’s premier motorsport championship has raced without this continent, and that changes with this agreement,” Kagame said.
He tied the race directly to the airport project next door. “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.”
For F1 president and CEO Stefano Domenicali, the deal completes the map. “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,” he said.
“Africa has always been part of Formula 1’s 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.”
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem called the return a historic moment for the sport. “Rwanda has demonstrated a strong commitment to delivering a world-class event, and the FIA will work closely with FOM and our partners as this new circuit is developed to the highest international standards.”
F1 backs the move with audience figures: according to the sport, more than 100 million fans already follow F1 across Africa, and almost 60 percent of fans in key Sub-Saharan markets are under 35.
Five days from leak to announcement
The deal had been on the table since last week. RacingNews365 first reported that an agreement had been reached, citing paddock sources. On Thursday, AFP quoted a Rwandan government source saying the bid had been greenlit, while a source close to the FIA said an announcement would follow in Kigali this week, with Qatar supporting the project. Qatar is not mentioned in F1’s announcement.
The news reached the drivers during the Singapore Grand Prix weekend. Lewis Hamilton, who has pushed for an African race for years, told reporters there, as quoted by Sky Sports: “It is, for me, the most important continent, to be honest, the most beautiful continent. We’re on all the other continents but that one and there should be no reason for it.”
Space on a full calendar opens before 2030
The 2027 calendar already has 24 races. Sky Sports points out that several hosting deals expire before the next decade: Portugal returns in 2027 on a two-year contract, Mexico and Singapore are only agreed until 2028, and the Japanese Grand Prix is confirmed until 2029. That gives F1 room to fit Rwanda in without breaking the current 24-race limit.
South Africa, which also bid for a race, accepted the outcome. Sports minister Gayton McKenzie wrote on X that Rwanda had worked on its bid longer and deserved it, and added that South Africa will still get F1, even before 2030.
Our read
This settles a debate that has run since Kyalami’s last race. A ten-year contract with a purpose-built Grade 1 circuit is a stronger basis than the one-off street races F1 has occasionally flirted with, and it is the first time a return to Africa comes with a signature instead of a statement of intent.
But the hard part has not started. The track does not exist yet, and “early in the next decade” is a window, not a date. Until F1 names the first race year and the circuit milestones, this is a promise, not a calendar entry.
There is also criticism F1’s announcement does not address. Rights groups accuse Rwanda of using major sporting events to improve its image while silencing critics, and the foreign minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo previously urged Domenicali in a letter to rule Rwanda out as a host, over Rwanda’s alleged role in the conflict in eastern Congo, which Rwanda denies. F1 and the FIA put the emphasis on legacy, jobs and young fans. Those promises can be checked, and they should be.
A date, a layout and South Africa’s next move
The next steps are the ones F1 has already announced: the date of the first race, the circuit development milestones and the race weekend plans. The first drawings of the Bugesera layout will show whether the elevation changes F1 promises really make for a track drivers want to race on. And South Africa’s reaction suggests Kyalami and Cape Town will keep lobbying for a second African race.
Would you travel to Rwanda for the first African Grand Prix? Tell us in the comments.
