Formula 1: Rwanda signs 10-year deal to host grand prix, starting ‘in early 2030s’

The sport is likely to want to avoid holding the race in the main rain season of March to May. There is a shorter, less disruptive rain season from October to November.

F1 is committed to keeping the season at no more than 24 races.

Rwanda President Paul Kagame said: “For more than three decades, the world’s premier motorsport championship has raced without this continent, and that changes with this agreement.

“Rwanda is proud to host the Formula 1 African Grand Prix, and to share this moment with more than 100 million fans across Africa, many of them young people who deserve to see the sport at home and to see themselves in it: as engineers, technicians, entrepreneurs and, one day, drivers.

“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.”

F1 president Stefano Domenicali said the new contract was “a landmark moment for F1”, which would mean the sport was racing “on every inhabited continent”.

Domenicali added: “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.”