Lewis Hamilton involvement uncovered in significant African Grand Prix update

Lewis Hamilton said F1 cannot keep “ignoring Africa” when it comes to adding races and revealed he has been working behind the scenes to put the continent back on the sport’s schedule.

Africa has been without an F1 race since the 1993 South African Grand Prix and even with 24 venues this season, F1 has not found room to add the only missing continent to its calendar.

Lewis Hamilton reveals behind the scenes work on African Grand Prix

Hamilton has long been an advocate to add Africa back to the calendar and after another visit there during his summer break, he said F1 needed to stop “ignoring” the continent.

“100% we can’t be adding races in other locations if you continue to ignore Africa,” he told media including PlanetF1.com in Zandvoort.

“The rest of the world just takes from [Africa], no one gives anything to Africa. There’s a huge amount of work that needs to be done there.

“I think a lot of the world that hasn’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 them back.

“I think having a grand prix there will be able to highlight just how great the place is and bring in tourism and all sorts.

“Why are we not on that continent? And the current excuse is that maybe there’s not a track that’s ready but there is at least one track that’s ready [Kyalami] 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 new so that’ll be a conversation I have with [F1 president] Stefano [Domenicali].”

In recent weeks, a report suggested that Rwanda, a country in the east of Africa, was working on a deal to bring F1 to the region and Hamilton suggested he had been helping with their bid.

“Rwanda is one of my favourite places I’ve been to,” he said. “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. Rwanda is a longer project, but it’s amazing that they’re so keen to get a part of it.”

Earlier this month, Automobile Club of Rwanda president Christian Gakwaya suggested the country was “ready to host an F1 race.”

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“It is time for Africa to be part of the F1 calendar,” Gakwaya said. “We are ready to host an F1 race.

“Rwanda represents an ideal opportunity for the return of Formula One to Africa. We are serious about submitting our candidacy.

“Our interest in Formula One is in line with the national strategy to use sport as a lever for economic transformation.

“For motorsports in Rwanda, hosting F1 is an important part of a broader strategy that includes infrastructure development, capacity building [social and economic development] and schools, and the drive to host more international events and championships.”

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