Formula 1 is heading back to African soil for the first time since 1993, after signing a 10-year deal to add the Formula 1 African Grand Prix, presented by Visit Rwanda, to its long-term calendar. Half the current grid wasn’t even born the last time the sport raced on the continent.

The new circuit will rise in Bugesera, roughly 40km south of Kigali, next to the capital’s new international airport, built to FIA Grade 1 standard. It’s the centrepiece of a much larger push — a tourism, infrastructure and commercial project led by the Rwanda Development Board, designed to keep the venue busy year-round with motorsport, conferences and other events rather than sitting idle for fifty-one weeks a year.

F1 president Stefano Domenicali called the agreement “a landmark moment,” while Rwandan president Paul Kagame was characteristically blunt about the real target: “Today belongs to Africa,” he said, pointing to jobs, skills and tourism rather than the race weekend itself as the actual prize. FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem called the sport’s return to the continent “historic.”

No date for the first race yet — the circuit isn’t expected to be finished until early next decade. Evidently, patience is part of the deal too.

Source: Formula1.com (https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/formula-1-returns-to-africa-with-10-year-agreement-to-race-in-rwanda.13xs9VMK7cGFiBd2IplyES)