Formula 1 Returns to Africa After Three Decades: Rwanda Signs 10-Year Deal, New Bugesera Circuit to Host First Race in Early 2030s
KIGALI — Formula 1 formally confirmed on October 13 that it has signed a 10-year agreement to stage an African Grand Prix in Rwanda, once a new purpose-built circuit at Bugesera is completed. It will be the championship's first race in Africa since the 1993 South African Grand Prix, a gap of more than three decades.
Under the deal, the first race will take place only after the circuit is finished, which Formula 1 expects to be early in the next decade; no inaugural year has been announced. The track will be built to the FIA's Grade 1 standard — the highest circuit classification, required to host Formula 1 — about 25 miles (40 km) south of the capital, Kigali, alongside the new Kigali International Airport now under development. Led by the Rwanda Development Board, the project is intended to anchor a larger sports, tourism and commercial development rather than serve a single race weekend, and drivers are expected to be consulted on the final design as the FIA works with Formula 1 and the promoters on the build.
Formula 1 president and CEO Stefano Domenicali, announcing the agreement in Kigali alongside Rwandan President Paul Kagame and FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem, called it a landmark moment for the sport, noting that with Rwanda on the calendar Formula 1 will race on every inhabited continent. He said Africa had always been part of Formula 1's future and that the championship had been determined to return with the right partner, a long-term commitment and a clear vision for local impact. Kagame said the partnership was intended to create jobs, skills, tourism and business over its life. Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has long called for an African race and backed Rwanda's bid in 2024.
The agreement caps a pursuit of nearly two years. Kagame formally announced the bid in December 2024, when Rwanda hosted a gathering of the FIA. In the years before that, the East African nation had steadily used sport to reshape its image and attract investment and visitors — sponsorship deals with football clubs including Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain, a hub role for the NBA's Basketball Africa League, and hosting the road cycling world championships in 2025. The 10-year Formula 1 deal takes that strategy to its highest level, though circuit milestones, detailed weekend plans and a first race date all remain to be announced; the next test, as Formula 1 itself acknowledged, is turning the concept into a finished Grade 1 circuit.
Africa last hosted Formula 1 in 1993, when the South African Grand Prix was held at Kyalami, north of Johannesburg. If the Bugesera circuit is completed on the expected timetable, Rwanda will stage the continent's first Grand Prix in more than 30 years.
Source: Compiled from Formula 1's official October 13, 2026 announcement in Kigali as reported by GrandPrix.com and PA Media on October 13, and Agence France-Presse reporting of October 8, 2026 on the bid's approval.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 卢旺达首都基加利全景，CC BY-SA 4.0（Wikimedia Commons，摄影：Honeybarger）
