Rwanda will host Africa's first Formula One Grand Prix since 1993 in "the early 2030s" after the circuit announced a decade-long deal with the country.
The East African nation has chased a Grand Prix for years, using football, basketball and other sports to boost its image and attract investment.
President Paul Kagame formally announced the bid when Rwanda hosted a gathering of the FIA, the sport's governing body, in December 2024.
The last time an F1 race was held in Africa was the 33rd SA Grand Prix near Johannesburg in 1993, one year before apartheid formally ended there with democratic, multi-racial elections.
The first African Grand Prix in Rwanda will take place "once a new purpose-built circuit in Bugesera, Rwanda, has been completed", F1 said in a statement.
"Today is a landmark moment for Formula One," F1 president Stefano Domenicali said.
"With Rwanda joining the calendar from the next decade, our sport will race in every inhabited continent, bringing the world championship closer than ever to fans around the globe.
"Africa has always been part of Formula One's future, and from the beginning we were determined to return in the right way, with the right partner, a long-term commitment and a clear vision for creating meaningful impact."
A landlocked country still widely associated with a horrific genocide in 1994, Rwanda has used sports to revamp its image, attract tourists and impress investors with its organisational efficiency.
It has spent lavishly on football sponsorship deals with clubs including Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain, partnered with the NBA to be the main hub of its African basketball league, and hosted 2025's cycling world championships.
Critics have called this "sports-washing" — using glitzy events to distract from accusations of serious human rights abuses, including a brutal crackdown on any opposition or dissent.
Others see that as Western hypocrisy, arguing no-one described 2026's World Cup in the US as "sports-washing", despite the country's rights abuses.
"Today belongs to Africa," Kagame said.
"For more than three decades, the world's premier motorsport championship has raced without this continent, and that changes with this agreement.
"This partnership is long overdue, but it is a success and a milestone for the entire continent, especially for African fans.
"Ultimately, what we want is for the African Grand Prix to pave the way for other races to be hosted on the continent.
"This is not impossible to achieve, and what we are doing proves this."
The announcement will delight one of F1's biggest stars, Lewis Hamilton.
The seven-time world champion has long called for an African stop on the F1 circuit, backing Rwanda's plans in 2024 and calling the country "one of my favourite places".
SA had also been bidding to host an F1 race, and its sports minister emphasised last week it should not be ruled out.
"[Rwanda] have worked on it longer than [SA] and deserve it," the country's sports minister Gayton McKenzie posted on X last Thursday after the expected Rwanda deal was reported.
"Remember though that one country, Italy, has had two F1s a year, and some react like a continent of 55 countries can only get one."
He predicted that "SA will get F1, even before 2030". — AFP
