Lights Out and Away We Go: Could Formula 1 Return to Africa?
Formula 1 is a sport that prides itself on being truly global, yet for more than three decades, it has been conspicuously absent from an entire continent.
Africa last hosted a Grand Prix in 1993, when Alain Prost won at Kyalami in South Africa in the final championship-winning season of his career. Since then, despite the sport’s extraordinary expansion into new markets across Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas, Africa has remained off the calendar.
With Virgin Bet and the wider sports betting market increasingly focused on F1’s growing global audience, the question of whether that absence is finally about to end has become one of the sport’s most compelling storylines.
The case for return
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has been unambiguous on the subject. Speaking at the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix, he confirmed that the sport is actively in discussions with three African nations and described Africa as the one continent they are determined to connect with.
The FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, has gone further, stating publicly that adding Africa back to the F1 calendar is “long overdue.” Lewis Hamilton, now racing for Ferrari, renewed his own personal push for an African Grand Prix at the start of the 2026 season, saying he does not want to retire from the sport without having raced on the continent.
The commercial logic is compelling. Africa represents one of the world’s fastest-growing sporting audiences, with a young, increasingly digitally connected population and a growing appetite for premium global sport.
The sport’s expansion into Las Vegas, Miami, and Qatar has demonstrated that F1 is not simply chasing prestige venues, but new commercial territories, and Africa fits that ambition precisely.
The contenders
Three nations are currently in active discussions with F1, and each brings a different proposition to the table.
South Africa is the most historically rooted candidate. The Kyalami circuit near Johannesburg hosted the South African Grand Prix 23 times between 1962 and 1993, and the FIA has approved upgrade plans to return the facility to Grade 1 status, the standard required to host a modern F1 race, with a three-year construction window to complete the works.
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa has personally committed to attending a Grand Prix this year as part of the government’s lobbying campaign, and sports minister Gayton McKenzie has stated publicly that a 2027 slot on the calendar is the target. The political will and the infrastructure foundation are both present.
Rwanda represents the most ambitious and unexpected bid. President Paul Kagame formally submitted Rwanda’s application to host a Grand Prix at the FIA General Assembly in Kigali in December 2024, outlining a 1.2 billion dollar project to build a brand new circuit near the planned Bugesera International Airport outside the capital. Construction is expected to begin in 2026 with a target of hosting a race by 2027 or 2028, though Rwanda has since acknowledged that 2029 is a more realistic timeline given the scale of the project and ongoing regional challenges. The bid has attracted genuine attention from within the sport, with several drivers visiting Kigali and speaking warmly about its potential.
Morocco has emerged as a third candidate, with reports of a billion-dollar circuit project planned near Tangier. The proposal is at an earlier stage than either South Africa or Rwanda, but Morocco’s proximity to Europe, its existing motorsport culture, and its growing profile as a host of major sporting events give the bid credibility.
The obstacles
Domenicali has been careful to manage expectations, noting that F1’s approach to new venues requires long-term commitment rather than short-term opportunism. The current calendar is at its maximum of 24 races, meaning any African addition would require an existing race to lose its slot, a politically sensitive process.
The infrastructure requirements for a modern Grand Prix, from pit lane facilities and media centres to paddock hospitality and transport logistics, are substantial, and the lead times involved mean that even the most advanced of the three bids is unlikely to reach the grid before 2027 at the earliest.
The momentum is real, the intent from both F1 and the candidate nations is genuine, and the sporting case is unanswerable. Africa is the only inhabited continent without a Grand Prix, and the sport’s ambition to be truly global will eventually demand that changes.
Whether it is Kyalami’s historic tarmac, a gleaming new circuit outside Kigali, or the streets of Tangier that hosts it first remains to be seen. But after 33 years of absence, the lights are finally beginning to flicker back on.
