Mercedes F1 driver Lewis Hamilton is entreating the Formula 1 hierarchy to add a race location in Africa, saying that the continent cannot be continually ignored in the wake of the competition’s expansion endeavors.
Per Sky Sports, the seven-time champion’s comments come as Formula 1 looks into adding new locations for future racing seasons. The last time F1 held a race in Africa was in 1993 in South Africa.
Rwanda now wants a piece of the F1 pie. In September, representatives from the East African nation and Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali had discussions over the country hosting an F1 grand prix. Rwanda is also committed to that course as reports state that officials intend to construct a permanent track.
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“We can’t be adding races in other locations and continuing to ignore Africa, which the rest of the world just takes from. No one gives anything to Africa,” Hamilton, 39, said at the Dutch Grand Prix in August.
“There’s a huge amount of work needs to be done there. I think a lot of the world that haven’t been there don’t realise how beautiful the place is, how vast it is. And probably they don’t even know what the countries are doing still to those places in terms of holding back,” he added.
“So I think having a grand prix there will really be able to highlight just how great the place is and bring in tourism and all sorts of things.”
Rwanda over the last few years has embarked on a robust tourism campaign seeking to encourage people to visit the East African nation. Hamilton, who also had good things to say about the country, stated that he wants to advocate for an F1 race location in Africa.
“Why are we not on that continent? The current excuse is that maybe there’s not a track that’s ready, but there is at least one track that’s ready there,” Hamilton stated.
“And in the short term, we should just get on that track and have that part of the calendar and then work on building out something moving forward. That’ll be a conversation I have with Stefano [Domenicali], who I know is also pushing to make sure.”
He continued: Rwanda is one of my favourite places I’ve been to, actually. I’ve been doing a lot of work in the background on it, I’ve spoken to people in Rwanda, I’ve spoken to people in South Africa. That’s a longer project, Rwanda. But it’s amazing that they’re so keen to be a part of it.”
Sky Sports reported that 24 races will take place in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America during the F1’s 2024 and 2025 calendars.
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