South Africa minister makes defiant Africa claim as F1 race in Rwanda nears
· Yahoo Sports
South African minister for sport Gayton McKenzie insists Formula 1 will return to the Rainbow Nation before 2030 despite a deal with Rwanda edging closer.
Rwanda is leading the way to become the first African country to host an F1 race since the South African Grand Prix in Kyalami in 1993.
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Rwandan president Paul Kagame declared his interest in hosting a grand prix back in 2024 and, now, plans are afoot to build a permanent circuit 40km outside the capital city of Kigali. An announcement on F1 returning to Africa is expected before the end of the year.
Yet McKenzie, who has regularly aired his insistence that Formula 1 will return to South Africa, repeated that claim in a post on X on Wednesday – with a small dig at Italy’s previous hosting of two annual events in Imola and Monza.
“We are happy for Rwanda's 2030 F1,” he said. “They have worked on it longer than SA and deserve it.
“Remember though that one country, Italy, has had two F1s a year, and some react like a continent of 55 countries can only get one.
“SA will get F1, even before 2030.”
Kyalami has had Grade 1 circuit plans – a prerequisite to host F1 grands prix – approved by the FIA, though upgrades will only advance when an F1 race has been announced. As well as the Kyalami track on the outskirts of Johannesburg, a street track in Cape Town has also been proposed.
F1 boss Stefano Domenicali has previously stated that the sport is eyeing a return to the African continent, despite the packed 24-race calendar set for 2027, which includes the return of Portugal and Turkey to the schedule.
Rwanda has previously hosted the FIA prize-giving gala, in 2024, when president Paul Kagame used his speech to announce the east African country’s intention to bid for a grand prix. As well as Rwanda, South Africa (Kyalami and Cape Town), Morocco and Nigeria have also expressed interest in hosting an F1 race.
F1 has not raced in Africa since the 1993 South African GP (pictured: fan supporting Ayrton Senna at Kyalami) (Getty)Lewis Hamilton, whose father Anthony is of Afro-Grenadian descent, has previously voiced his backing for an F1 race in Africa. Hamilton has spent past summer breaks travelling in Africa, and previously described Rwanda as “particularly stunning” and a “place I felt like I could live.”
“I’ve had the privilege… I’ve been to 10 countries now in Africa,” he said at the Australian Grand Prix in March. “There’s still so much more for me to see.
“For the past six years, maybe seven, I’ve been fighting in the background to get a grand prix… sitting with stakeholders and asking the question, ‘why are we not in Africa? There’s one on every other continent, why not Africa?’
“I know they’re really trying.”
Other worldwide locations keen to join the calendar include South Korea, India, Thailand, Argentina and Malaysia, after their successful one-off hosting of the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang on Sunday.