Formula One cannot continue to ignore Africa – Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton said Formula One cannot continue to ignore Africa as he increased pressure on the sport’s bosses to end its three-decade absence from the continent.

The F1 calendar has expanded to a record-breaking 24 rounds this season, but Africa last staged a race in 1993.

Rwanda has emerged as the region’s leading contender, with F1 boss Stefano Domenicali describing their plans as “serious”.

He is due to stage talks with representatives next month. However, it is understood that a race there is far from certain.

But Hamilton, who spent F1’s summer break in Morocco, Senegal, Benin, Mozambique and Madagascar, said: “The time is 100 per cent right (to stage a race in Africa).

“We can’t be adding races in other locations and continue to ignore Africa, which the rest of the world just takes from. No one gives anything to Africa.

“There’s a huge amount of work that needs to be done there. But a lot of the world, that haven’t been, don’t realise how beautiful the place is and having a Grand Prix there will really be able to highlight that and bring in tourism.

“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 (Kyalami) that’s ready.

“In the short term, we should just have that as part of the calendar and then work on building something. That will be a conversation I’ll have with Stefano.

I would have loved to continue with Bono. We have a great relationship. He’s like a brother

“Rwanda is one of my favourite places I’ve been to. 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.”

Hamilton’s season came alive at Silverstone last month where he claimed his first win in two-and-a-half years before team-mate George Russell’s exclusion from the last round in Belgium handed him a second triumph from three appearances.

Hamilton is entering the final 10 races of his career with Mercedes ahead of his blockbuster move to Ferrari, but it was confirmed ahead of this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix that he would not be joined at the Italian team by his long-serving race engineer, Peter Bonnington.

Instead, Bonnington, known as “Bono”, has landed a promotion as head of race engineering.

“I would have loved to continue with Bono,” admitted Hamilton. “We have a great relationship. He’s like a brother.

“It is just about people doing what’s best for them and packing up and leaving (England for Italy), I can only imagine would not have been good for him and his partner.

“I knew it would be an unlikely scenario that he would go with me, because it would have been such a drastic change to his life.”