Formula 1 will race in Africa for the first time since 1993, with Rwanda landing a 10-year deal to stage the African Grand Prix from the early 2030s.
Both Morocco and South Africa also harboured ambitions to host a Grand Prix on the continent but it was Rwanda that was first to produce a coherent and viable plan. Yet the country is a “political hot potato”, with “question marks” over its human rights record, said The Telegraph. Some critics of the “landmark deal” are already calling F1 organisers “morally tone-deaf”.
‘Expanding markets’
Over the past decade, F1 has “dramatically changed its approach” to its racing calendar and started “to focus on expanding markets” amid a “boom in popularity”, said The Athletic. Three races are now run in the US, and this year’s Bahrain Grand Prix was hosted in Malaysia. With over 100 million fans across Africa – and 60% of fans in key sub-Saharan African markets under the age of 35 – a return to the continent has been on the organisation’s radar “for a number of years”.
The “Rwanda Motodrome” will be a purpose-built “natural road course” 25 miles south of Kigali, near the “under-construction Bugesera international airport”, said Autosport. The track will be a fast-flowing, “17-corner anti-clockwise challenge” with, befitting the country’s reputation as the “Land of a Thousand Hills”, a 645ft change in elevation per lap – almost twice that of the current track with the biggest elevation difference, Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. Plans also include a long back straight followed by a hairpin, to promote overtaking and increase excitement for both drivers and fans.
“There is little doubt that courting international sport is central to promoting Rwanda’s regional and global aspirations,” said The Telegraph. The country has already spent more than £190 million on international standard facilities that include a national sports stadium, a basketball arena, a golf course and a cricket stadium. And the investment has already paid “dividends”. Rwanda has hosted the NBA’s Basketball Africa League since 2021 and, in 2023, it was the stage for the annual Fifa Congress. Last year, it became the first African nation to host cycling’s Road World Championships.
‘Accusations of sportswashing’
“Of more relevance”, though, is “Rwanda’s human rights record and long-held accusations of sportswashing”, said The Independent. Amnesty International has said the vague wording of Rwanda’s laws is “deliberately exploited to violate human rights” and is misused to “criminalise criticism of the government”. Human Rights Watch said political rivals have “no real chance of gaining power”, after de facto leader Paul Kagame was declared to have won a 99% majority in the 2024 general election. Kagame has held power since 1994, when he led the Rwandan Patriotic Front to “end the genocide in which approximately 700,000 people were killed over 100 days”.
In the “lavish” ceremony announcing Rwanda’s contract, F1 was “keen to stress” that only money from Rwanda’s development board’s investment plan will be used, with no diversion of state funds. Last month, Rwanda announced a five-year, £3.5 billion strategic plan, aimed at attracting private investment. The project is “certainly one of deep fascination”, but there will be “plenty of boxes to tick and plenty of questions to answer. Doubters will need to be appeased.”
It’s fair to say that Rwanda will be “far from the only country on the F1 calendar” with questions over its human rights record, said The Telegraph. The sport has also “come under fire” for racing in China, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
And other major sports, including football, have done deals with Rwanda. Arsenal only recently ended a partnership deal with Visit Rwanda “following intense pressure”, not least from fans, over the country’s support of the M23 militia in conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But Aston Villa, Paris St-Germain, Atlético Madrid and Bayern Munich all have ongoing deals, as do US basketball team, LA Clippers, and American football team, LA Rams.