F1 chose Rwanda, where no track exists yet, over South Africa's ready-built Kyalami

On 13 October 2026, Formula 1 told the world it was returning to Africa. The deal is for 10 years. The race will be called the African Grand Prix. And it is going to Rwanda.

The post passed 900,000 views in hours. The replies were fast and sharp. "10 year deal for a track that doesn't even exist," one fan wrote. Another wrote just three words: "Kyalami circuit right now."

South Africans had waited years for this call. Kyalami sits near Johannesburg, and it hosted a Formula 1 race as recently as 1993. This week, the sport went north instead.

What exactly did F1 announce about Rwanda?

F1 says the African Grand Prix will join the calendar in the early 2030s. Earlier reports pointed to 2030 as the first race. The exact year is not yet fixed.

Reports say the circuit will sit about 40 km outside Kigali, near the new Bugesera International Airport. A firm run by former F1 driver Alexander Wurz is designing it. Construction had not started when those reports came out, and the final layout was not public.

The cost has not been published. That is why so many fans keep asking about a track that does not exist yet.

Rwanda has been working on this for a while. President Paul Kagame launched the bid in December 2024, when Rwanda hosted a gathering of the sport's governing body, the FIA, in Kigali.

Why did South Africa and Kyalami lose out?

Kyalami's owner, Toby Venter, has said the track is about 90% ready. He said in 2025 that it could host F1 as early as 2027 or 2028.

The catch is the licence. Kyalami holds a Grade 2 licence, and F1 needs Grade 1. The FIA accepted Kyalami's Grade 1 design in mid-2025, but the work still had to be paid for and built.

The upgrade was estimated at R100 million to R180 million. Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie said government money would not pay for it. He said Venter had given his word that his group would. Later reports said McKenzie asked six firms to pledge a combined $100 million toward South Africa's F1 return.

The bid process was messy too. Entering an Expression of Interest cost R10 million. Igshaan Amlay, who led a rival Cape Town Grand Prix bid, said that fee was excessive and unfair.

Then came the news. When the Rwanda deal leaked in early October, McKenzie wrote on X that Rwanda had worked on it longer than South Africa and deserved it. He also said Africa has 55 countries and can host more than one race.

The timeline: From Prost at Kyalami to a site near Kigali

That is a wait of more than 33 years since Prost won in his Williams. Africa has now gone without a grand prix for longer than many F1 fans have been alive.

Photo: Honeybarger / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

How much does it cost a country to host an F1 race?

A lot. Hosting fees are paid to F1 every year. One analysis by Raconteur puts the average at about $30 million a year, with yearly increases of up to 10%. Most new contracts run 10 years, so the last year can reach about $70.7 million.

The richest hosts pay more. Qatar and Saudi Arabia reportedly pay around $55 million a year each. Abu Dhabi is reported at about $42 million.

30.00$mAverage

42.00$mAbu Dhabi

55.00$mQatar

See the numbers

Average	30.00$m
Abu Dhabi	42.00$m
Qatar	55.00$m

Source: Raconteur and press estimates. Fees are reported, not official, and change by contract.

One South African estimate of Kyalami's upgrade used about R17.74 to the dollar. At that rate, $30 million is roughly R532 million a year. Kyalami's whole upgrade bill of R100 million to R180 million would be at most a third of one average year's fee.

That is the gap South Africans keep pointing at. The track was nearly there. The fee and the ten year contract are a much bigger bill.

Photo: Martin Lee from London, UK / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Is this "sportswashing"? What critics say about Rwanda

Not everyone is cheering. Some replies to the F1 post called the choice "sportswashing", the idea that a government pays for sport to improve its image.

Rwanda's Visit Rwanda brand already sponsors Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich. The Arsenal deal began in 2018 and was reported to be worth more than £10 million a year.

In February 2025, the DR Congo government asked those three clubs to end their deals. It said the money could be linked to minerals mined illegally in eastern Congo. It pointed to a United Nations experts' group that said Rwanda's army has de facto control of M23 rebel operations, and to a UN report of about 4,000 Rwandan troops in the country.

Rwanda's government has long denied backing M23. The clubs did not respond to the human rights group that reported the appeal. We have not seen an F1 reply to these claims.

Is Rwanda a safe place for a grand prix?

Many fans say yes. "Very safe country," one reply read. Rwanda also hosted the FIA's big December 2024 gathering in Kigali, which is how the F1 bid got its launch.

East African fans cheered too. One said a race in Rwanda is now a two hour flight away instead of ten. For millions of people in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, that matters more than any argument about Kyalami.

Others worry about the long wait. "Lewis Hamilton's gonna be racing into his 60s," one fan joked. The early 2030s start date makes that sound only half like a joke.

Photo: NJR ZA / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Is there still a way for South Africa to get F1?

McKenzie says yes. After the Rwanda news he wrote that South Africa will get F1 "even before 2030".

That is a bold promise. F1 has said nothing about a second African race, and the calendar is already full. Africa's other big sport is also changing fast, as our story on Motsepe's plan to change the AFCON calendar shows. And South Africa's tourism pull is real, as the story on the Cape's record tourist numbers explains.

Here is what is certain. Kyalami has a Grade 1 plan the FIA approved. Rwanda has a 10 year contract. And the first African grand prix since Prost's win in 1993 will take place at a circuit that does not exist yet.

If McKenzie is right, South Africa could still beat Rwanda to the grid. That would put the Kyalami cars on track before the African Grand Prix has even been built.