Formula 1 to return to Africa with 10-year agreement to race in Rwanda
Rwanda will host Africa’s first Formula One Grand Prix since 1993 after the circuit announced a 10-year deal with the country on October 13. | Photo Credit: AFP
Rwanda will host Africa’s first Formula One Grand Prix since 1993 after the circuit announced a 10-year deal with the country on October 13. | Photo Credit: AFP
Formula 1 has announced a landmark 10-year agreement to bring the FIA Formula One World Championship back to Africa, with the Formula 1 African Grand Prix, set to join the calendar in the early 2030s.
The agreement marks a defining moment in Formula 1’s history and will see the sport return to the African continent for the first time since 1993.
The long-term agreement will see the first race in the country take place once the new purpose-built circuit in Bugesera, Rwanda, has been completed, which is expected to be early in the next decade.
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The new track will be developed to FIA Grade 1 standards as part of a wider sports, tourism, infrastructure, and commercial development project led by the Rwanda Development Board.
Located approximately 40 kilometres south of Kigali and adjacent to the new Kigali International Airport, the circuit will be designed to work in harmony with the natural landscape, using the area’s elevation changes to create a unique and challenging racing experience while delivering exceptional viewing opportunities for fans.
Africa represents one of the most exciting growth opportunities for the sport, with more than 100 million fans already following Formula 1 across the continent and almost 60% of fans in key Sub-Saharan African markets under the age of 35.
Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda, said, “Today belongs to Africa. For more than three decades, the world’s premier motorsport championship has raced without this continent, and that changes with this agreement.
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“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,” he added.
“This ten-year partnership is also an investment in Rwanda’s future. 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,” he concluded
Published on Oct 13, 2026
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