Before Rwanda's return: Why Formula 1 left Africa after its last Grand Prix in 1993

• Rwanda is reportedly close to securing a Formula 1 race near Kigali, potentially returning the championship to Africa.

• South Africa last hosted an F1 Grand Prix in March 1993, after the sport's earlier withdrawal amid opposition to apartheid.

• Financial problems and the race promoter's arrest contributed to the end of the South African Grand Prix, while later attempts to bring F1 back to Africa have struggled.

Formula 1 is reportedly heading back to Africa. AFP says sources in the Rwandan government and close to the FIA have told it a deal has been reached for a Grand Prix near Kigali, although nothing has been formally announced. An official announcement is expected in the Rwandan capital next week.

The debut year is still unclear, with sources pointing to 2030 or the early 2030s. The race is expected to use a new permanent circuit roughly 40 kilometres from Kigali, near Bugesera International Airport, and Qatar is reportedly backing the project.

If it goes ahead, it will be the first F1 race on the continent since 14 March 1993, when the race took place in South Africa. 

That day, Alain Prost won the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami, near Johannesburg, to open the 1993 season. It was the last Formula 1 race held in Africa, and the reasons it ended involve both politics and money.

For years, F1 raced in South Africa while the government enforced apartheid, a system of legal racial segregation. Other sports had already cut ties. South Africa was expelled from FIFA in 1961 and from the International Olympic Committee in 1970. F1 kept its annual race at Kyalami going until 1985.

By then, the pressure was hard to ignore. The South African government had declared a state of emergency in July 1985 amid growing unrest. The French government was sanctioning the country, and French teams Renault and Ligier stayed away from the October race. Marlboro even removed its logo from McLaren’s cars.

Days after the race, F1’s governing body announced it would not return in 1986. F1 only came back in 1992, as apartheid was being dismantled, on a shorter, revised Kyalami. The 1993 race was the last, but apartheid was not the reason this time. Financial problems and the arrest of the race promoter on fraud charges ended it.

No African country has hosted a Grand Prix since, and attempts to revive the South African race have repeatedly stalled over infrastructure costs and politics.

President Paul Kagame formally announced Rwanda's bid in December 2024 at the FIA General Assemblies in Kigali, saying the country wanted "to bring the thrill of racing back to Africa." The proposal initially met scepticism because Rwanda had no circuit capable of staging a race.

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The country has used sport more widely to attract investment and tourism, a strategy critics of Kagame's government have called "sportwashing." Lewis Hamilton, who has long pushed for a race in Africa, welcomed the reports in Singapore.