FORMULA 1 ANNOUNCES IT WILL RACE IN RWANDA FROM “EARLY 2030S”

F1 confirmed a 10-year deal to race in Rwanda starting in the "early 2030s" — the sport's first African round since South Africa's Kyalami hosted in 1993. The wording is deliberately vague; no specific year was announced, only that the new RISE Motordrome circuit in Bugesera will be built 40 kilometers south of Kigali. Tilke and Wurz designed the layout, but specifications remain under wraps.

Rwanda has never held a grand prix. F1's African history runs through Morocco (a single race in 1958) and South Africa, which hosted 23 times between 1962 and 1993. The series faced boycotts over racing under apartheid, left for seven years, then returned briefly to a revised Kyalami before departing for good.

President Paul Kagame called the event the "Formula 1 African Grand Prix." By the time lights go out, nearly four decades will have passed since F1 last raced on the continent — if the project holds to its hazy timeline.