Tuesday's launch of the new African Grand Prix at Kigali's BK Arena in Rwanda was attended by Rwandan president Paul Kagame and both F1 boss Stefano Domenicali and FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
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F1 signs historic 10-year Rwanda deal to host African Grand PrixBut following the official presentation, several key questions were still outstanding and Autosport has now heard from the key people behind the race to fill in some of those blanks.
When will Rwanda actually join?
Rwanda will officially join in the "early 2030s", leaving the door open for plenty of wiggle room to actually join the calendar. It is quite curious for a new race to be officially announced in 2026 without a clear entry point, especially when the earliest possible date is four years into the future.
But the reality is that the project hinges on a number of critical infrastructure projects to get done. The big ticket item is the brand-new Bugesera international airport, which is currently just a runway with a concrete apron while early work has started on the terminal building. The airport isn't due to open until the second half of 2028.
Then there is the ambitious 6km track itself, which runs south of the future airport up and down two steep hills and alongside a lake. The circuit design itself is finished, with the project handled by Tilke Engineering & Architects, engineering consultancy DAR and Wurz Design now entering the engineering phase, and the Rwandan government will also have to figure out how to get 100,000 fans in and out of the track smoothly.
While there is every chance of racing there by 2030, by not pinning an exact entry point on Rwanda, the local authorities have less pressure and more time to complete all the required works on time and to the right standard. With Kigali set to become F1's anchor point in Africa for at least a decade, the sport is keen for the race to be executed as well as possible, rather than as early as possible.
Rwanda African GP
Photo by: Formula 1
"There aren't really limiting factors other than key milestones that we keep in mind," Afrika said when asked about the flexible start date. "One of the major ones is the completion of the international airport which is set to be completed in early 2028. The other one was more to retain the flexibility to finalise what must be done in relation to the racetrack, before a final decision is made on where we would fit exactly on the calendar. That decision is driven and coordinated by F1, but it is a decision that we prefer to postpone to the future."
At the same time, after over three years of talks and planning it was still important to make a public announcement well ahead of time to get the project out of the conceptual stage and into something that will actually happen. "We needed this moment, because we were in a sort of chicken-and-egg moment," said F1 CEO and president Stefano Domenicali.
"We're talking, having everything almost ready, and I said: 'Listen, if we don't start, we're [not] going to get it [done]."
Why is it called the Africa Grand Prix and not the Rwandan Grand Prix?
Curiously, the race isn't named after its host country or city but after the entire continent, which organisers say is a gesture of goodwill towards Africa as a whole.
"Rwanda has always been a champion of regional integration," said Jean-Guy Afrika, CEO of the Rwandan Development Board. "We are a member of the East African Community, of the Common Market for Eastern Africa. We abolished visas on arrival for Africans. So, it's really part of that spirit to bring the sport to the continent.
"We want to make it bigger than just Rwanda. We want to make it the moment when the sport came back to Africa and then never left. So that's why we felt that calling it Kigali Grand Prix or Rwanda Grand Prix would have felt slightly exclusive. It's much easier if you call it an African Grand Prix to approach partners in this wider effort."
Afrika also believed Rwanda would open the floodgates for more races on the continent. "We foresee a future where we look back at this moment and we see a critical juncture from where multiple races eventually end up happening in Africa. You've already seen that the interest [in Africa] was very high. We weren't the only ones bidding, and we expect that after the first race, there probably would be many more races."
What kind of circuit will Rwanda get, and will it be good for overtaking?
Rwanda F1 track for African GP
Photo by: Formula 1
The Rwanda Motodrome is a permanent, purpose-built facility, rather than a street or urban track. The 6km, 17-corner layout is built from the ground up to make full use of the natural features of the Bugesera site, especially the two hills the circuit will be going up and down. The total elevation change per lap is 197m, which is almost twice as much as the current number one - Spa Francorchamps (102).
As well as fast and flowing corners that will get the drivers excited, there's also a 1km back straight followed by a hairpin to promote overtaking. TILKE managing director Carsten Tilke said the site chosen for the venue was a "dream location" because the undulating topography did a lot of the heavy lifting to come up with a challenging circuit as well as an arena-like vistas for fans.
"When we design a racetrack, of course we need to always work with the site we have," Tilke said. "We were very, very lucky because it's a very hilly topography. We have a lake. We have everything you dream of when you design a track. This also gives the character of the track; very flowing, very fast. It's really shaped by the natural features and beauty of the site. And this is why we also have a lot of elevation changes. It's really is a roller coaster track with a lot of banking. It goes up and down 12 to 13 percent."
Wurz is perhaps in a slightly awkward position as he is also the chairman of the F1 drivers association GPDA, so there is no place to hide for him if the track isn't a big hit. But when asked about his design, the former F1 driver was bullish about its potential to be both beloved by the drivers, by the spectators and by fans watching on TV because of the overtaking opportunities baked into the design. And he revealed several current drivers and FIA world champions had already tried his design in the simulator.
"The circuit is not designed for specific rules or categories, so you will see some corner combinations, which work perfect for touring cars, for motorbikes, where you can have really sneak attacks, or if you are up on your tyre degradation and you can stay very close, even on downforce [heavy] cars, whether that's World Endurance Championship cars or Formula 1 cars.
"We will have long straights, the hairpins and all the attack corners within the simulator. We are playing heavily with slight camber changes at times where you have degradation on the front or the rear, we consider what tyre temperatures are coming into the tyres on certain corners, so that the defending driver actually is at a disadvantage for the next long straight.
"There's a lot of science as well as knowledge from the years of driving and designing tracks going in, and I hope that this circuit is the cherry on the cake on everyone's list. More than a dozen FIA World Championship titles eyes have seen the circuit, have seen the onboard videos, and I think everyone is sharing great excitement."
What does F1 get out of Rwanda?
Stefano Domenicali at African GP announcement in Rwanda
Photo by: Filip Cleeren
Domenicali called Tuesday's announcement "one of the most significant days in the history of Formula 1." Even for a man who generally embraces hyperbole, that's quite a statement to make. But it's true that finally breaking into the African market could well be one of Domenicali's biggest achievements when everything is said and done.
F1 hasn't been back to the African continent since leaving South Africa after 1993, and given the impressive list of requirements for a Liberty Media era grand prix, for the longest time it has felt like it just couldn't be done.
But as pointed out by Lewis Hamilton, who was praised by Rwandan sports minister Nelly Mukazayire as a "very strong voice about F1 in Africa", F1 can't call itself a truly global championship without setting foot on African soil. The hope is that Liberty Media has now found the right, credible and stable partner to do so, one that doesn't underestimate the huge workload ahead.
Domenicali claimed Africa's rapidly growing market "is home to more than 100 million fans of Formula 1", who will now get to watch a race on their own continent.
What does Rwanda get out of F1?
Attracting the latest high-profile sporting property has landed Rwanda fresh accusations by Amnesty International of using F1 for sportswashing, drawing attention away from significant human rights issues.
Domenicali, however, called Rwanda "one of the world's great success stories" and "a nation of extraordinary natural beauty and stunning landscapes, combined with resilience and courage to overcome and be reborn from challenges of its past", referencing the devastating 1994 genocide. F1 maintains that sport can be a positive force for good.
Long-time president Paul Kagame explained hosting elite level sports on home soil was a first step towards reversing the one-way traffic of Africa delivering some of the biggest global stars in football, basketball, athletics and other sports, but not getting any economic benefit from them.
"For decades, African athletes have been a pillar of the global sports economy, adding significant commercial value to top leagues, with the continent receiving almost nothing in return. Partnerships like the one we are building help break this cycle because they serve as a catalyst for sports infrastructure development. This is not just about building venues. It's about creating a sustainable economic model where different revenue streams across hospitality, tourism, and entertainment are generated and anchored into local communities. Sports is a great equaliser, but we have to be intentional about delivering this promise."
F1 also offers the next step in Rwanda's development as a tourist destination and business hub, fresh off hosting the 2025 road cycling world championships. Unlike that one-off event, Rwanda has signed up for a 10-year period which gives it time to write off investment, which is said to be an undisclosed mixture of public and private investment.
"I think it's critical to highlight that F1 is part of a much bigger picture and long-term strategy to position Rwanda as a hub for tourism investment and services," Afrika said. "F1 was a natural continuation of this effort. The track will have a capacity of around 100,000 spectators. Over a weekend, we're talking close to 300,000 people consuming everything from retail products, restaurants, hotels, accommodation infrastructure. Massive demand that generates growth for our existing businesses. And that means more in terms of what we can collect in terms of sales taxes, increases in corporate income taxes, and so on. We also anticipate an increase in terms of investment in new businesses and that means more jobs and so on."
The Rwanda Development Board is keen to make the venue a multipurpose facility that can be used year-round for events like concerts and conferences, with a karting track, off-road facility and handling track also built in to further boost grassroots motorsports. After launching the FIA cross car at the FIA General Assemblies in Kigali two years ago, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem vowed the governing body would step up efforts to support karting in the country.
"The arrival of Formula 1 in Rwanda will send a very powerful message to young people across the continent. It will tell them that the highest levels of international motorsport are within their reach, that Africa can not only participate in the future of our sport but help shape it," Ben Sulayem said.