Lewis Hamilton’s hopes of one day racing in an African Grand Prix have suffered a setback.
The Ferrari driver revealed he was ‘promised’ that a Grand Prix in Africa would be added to the Formula 1 calendar before he retires.
It is believed that Formula 1 president and CEO Stefano Domenicali was the person who gave Hamilton the assurances, however the Italian has now revealed that plans are still some way off.
With F1’s popularity continuing to grow across the globe, so too has the calendar with the recent expansion to 24 races.
Africa remains a glaring omission from the race calendar with no Grand Prix having taken place on the continent since the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami in 1993.
Hamilton has been vocal in convincing bosses to bring a race to fans in Africa and hopes that the continent will no longer be ‘ignored’.
“We can’t be adding races in other locations and continuing to ignore Africa, which the rest of the world just takes from. No one gives anything to Africa,” Hamilton said at the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix.
“There’s a huge amount of work that needs to be done there,” he continued. “I think a lot of the world that haven’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 back.
“So I think having a grand prix there will really be able to highlight just how great the place is and bring in tourism and all sorts of things.”
His idea was also backed by former F1 driver Mark Blundell who told talkSPORT that he would love to see the South African Grand Prix revived.
“I really would love to see the old Kyalami configuration back because it was an epic circuit,” Blundell said.
“I’d also say that actually racing in South Africa was an incredible experience because there was a huge amount of passion and I think actually South Africa as a nation is quite passionate about motorsport.
“I think that it’s been a big loss not to have a Grand Prix in that area for all of these years. If there is any way that a Grand Prix can go back into the African region, I think it would be fantastic.
“It’s nice to have been on the podium for the last South African Grand Prix. If the invitation comes to go back again, then I’ll be the first on the plane.”
It remains to be seen where F1 bosses would opt to stage a race in Africa should Hamilton get his wish.
Talks to reignite South African Grand Prix fell through due to the circuit not meeting modern standards leaving Rwanda as a possible host should F1 make its grand return to the continent.
According to F1Chronicle.com, the cost of designing and building a new Grand Prix track would mean Rwanda would need to invest about $270 million (£208m).
Last year, Domenicali held a meeting with representatives of Rwanda following a ‘serious’ proposal to host a Grand Prix in Kigali.
“I’ve been speaking to him so much about getting the race in Africa and he’s really the one that’s promised that he’s going to make sure we get this done before I leave here, so that’s important,” Hamilton said at last year’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.
But six months on from Hamilton’s claim, Domenicali has no further news to give the seven-time world champion.
When asked if F1’s plans to return to Africa are on hold, Domenicali told Motorsport.com: “That’s not the right word.
“Before taking that step, we need guarantees on three fronts: investment that benefits the community beyond F1’s presence, infrastructure (not just a circuit, but hotels, roads, airports), and an economic base that can support the event long-term.
“We’re not on standby – we’re working to assess what’s still missing before we can say, ‘Okay, let’s go.’
“But we’re not there yet.”
