Lewis Hamilton has joked that he will be “forced” to extend his Formula 1 career into his mid-forties in order to achieve his dream of racing in Africa.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton has got his big F1 wish following the recent announcement that the world championship is reviving the African Grand Prix as part of a 10-year deal with Rwanda.
F1 has not visited Africa since the 1993 South African Grand Prix and Hamilton has been leading calls for the sport to head to the continent, expressing his desire to take part in a race before he retires.
No specific date has been set for the race yet, but it is due to join the F1 calendar at some point in the early 2030s, meaning Hamilton will be at least 45 years old by the time the African Grand Prix happens.
The African Grand Prix will take place in Rwanda
“I’m looking forward to racing with him longer and we’ll see about, I mean, I’m now forced to have to stay a lot longer because we have a race in Africa and that’s been my dream, to be able to race in Africa,” Hamilton joked ahead of the United States Grand Prix.
After Andrea Kimi Antonelli interjected to say: “So you’ve got to come,” the Ferrari driver responded: “So, yeah, I mean, I have to keep fighting to try and stay fit if I can, if I can still punch out good results over the next year, we’ll keep it going.”
Hamilton detailed how he has been constantly nagging leading F1 officials, including CEO Stefano Domenicali, to bring a race to Africa for years.
“I’ve been advocating for a race in Africa for many, many, many years, and countless meetings with the stakeholders, so many meetings with Stefano at his office in London, but also race weekends,” Hamilton explained.
“Countless calls. ‘What’s happening?’, ‘where are we going?’, ‘who are you meeting with?’. Many meetings with different presidents from different countries, lots of phone calls with different presidents in different countries within Africa.
Hamilton has wanted to race in Africa for years
© XPB Images
“For me it’s a place that deserves to have a grand prix. It’s [about] more than just one country, it is about the continent in itself and there’s so many beautiful countries within it and the people are so lovely. The culture is so rich and I think it’s important that we get to show that to the world and we get to do that with our sport.
“We get to go to all these different countries and people see some of these countries they didn’t really know too much about and all of a sudden it’s on the screen and kids are talking about it. They go to school talking about. So I’m really, really hopeful for that grand prix.”
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