Rwanda announces bid to hold first Formula 1 race in Africa since 1993

29 comments on “Rwanda announces bid to hold first Formula 1 race in Africa since 1993”

1. 

   Chris
   14th December 2024, 0:45

   Rwanda hosting an F1 race? Let’s check Wikipedia ….

   “Rwanda … ranks among the lowest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties and quality of life.”

   “Rwanda’s economy is based mostly on subsistence agriculture. As of … 2019/20, 48.8% of the population is affected by multidimensional poverty and an additional 22.7% vulnerable to it.”

   “Rwanda has been governed by the [Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front] as a de facto one-party state since 1994 with former commander Paul Kagame as President since 2000. The country has been governed by a series of centralized authoritarian governments since precolonial times.”

   Sounds an ideal location for the F1 circus.
   1. 

      Broderick Harper (@banbrorace)
      15th December 2024, 21:27

      Did you say this when they went to Baku and Sochi?

      How about China?

      Do you like the fact that Brazil have a President who was convicted for money laundering and spent nearly 600 days in prison – until it was mysteriously quashed, which just happened to coincide with him wanting to make a run for President? How about their treatment of the Amazonia rain forest people?

      The civil rights in Rwanda are far better than in Azerbaijan. I’d go look at the data, coldly by using a renowned stats data website like worlddata.info as opposed to relying on Wiki. It will also show you that Civil rights are roughly as good as that in Brazil.

      Never ceases to amaze me how fans that moan about the Middle East and Africa seem to accept all the other countries, because of the ‘nice’ image that place adds.

      Incidentally, I’m not bothered what goes on in that country unless they are at war with another.

      Here’s hoping the Rwanda bid wins and it helps to promote a better understanding of Africa, just like Baku has helped their part of the world enormously.
      1. 

         Daniel
         16th December 2024, 0:04

         I don’t know how much you know about Lula’s cases, but there’s no mystery in his release. The judge who convicted him was politically biased, soon after Lula’s imprisonment this judge was appointed Justice Minister by Bolsonaro (former brazilian president AKA Trump of the Tropics, which is kinda offensive to the Donald, and Lula’s main political rival ), served during an year and a half, then left Bolsonaro’s government, launched a failed presidential bid that became a successful senate bid, so obviously but belatedly the Supreme Court recognized Lula didn’t have a fair trial and nullified all his convictions, and the cases fell under the statute of limitations.
      2. 

         Dex
         16th December 2024, 7:35

         You don’t understand the difference in safety between Rwanda and Azerbaijan (which is another weird choice). As for Brazil, it also isn’t safe. Speaking of democracy, they did change a few leaders since the 90’s though. China? They have their own system, which I’d never like to experience, but they did become the world’s largest economy, and there are no crime and safety concerns. As for democratic values, they have one party, USA two (and nepotism seems to be at the similar level now). Not much difference at all.
      3. 

         DonSmee (@david-beau)
         16th December 2024, 11:23

         Well said!!

         The same people here had not problem when it hosted in Russia of all places! And look how that turned out.
      4. 

         Wer
         16th December 2024, 11:33

         @banbrorace
         The issue is about Rwanda and you got angry about other countries. Focus man. Two wrongs don’t make a right! Azerbaijan or China being bad doesn’t make Rwanda any less terrible.

         “Here’s hoping the Rwanda bid wins and it helps to promote a better understanding of Africa”
         – I don’t think a marketing driven, sterile F1 presentation helps to promote a better understanding of Africa.
         It certainly won’t give people a better idea about these African things:
         1. Human Trafficking
         2. Child Soldiers
         3. Corruption
         4. Genital Mutilation
         5. Ethnic Cleansing and Massacres
         6. Wildlife Poaching
         7. Modern-Day Slavery
         8. Political Violence and Repression
         9. Ritual Killings and Witchcraft-Related Murders
         10. Exploitation of Natural Resources
         11. Extreme Brutality and Torture
         12. Environmental Destruction
2. 

   SPArtacus
   14th December 2024, 3:18

   Yeah, I’m sure this is gonna go through…
   1. 

      pcxmac (@pcxmac)
      14th December 2024, 16:12

      they need the political cover, to cover up whats going on in the Congo. Almost to the point of being desperate enough to see it through no matter what. What they wont do is go to South Africa, because it’s part of the BRICS.
      1. 

         michael
         14th December 2024, 18:16

         B (Brazil) and C (China) might query that.
         1. 

            MichaelN
            14th December 2024, 23:18

            It’s just been a few days since F1 raced in the UAE, who despite not making the acronym, are very much in the same group. Indeed, F1 raced in all the founding BRIC countries. If it weren’t for financial issues with the Buddh circuit and its owners Jaypee, F1 would probably like to race there again. We all know why the R is no longer on the calendar. Good riddance, too.

            South-Africa simply doesn’t have an F1 grade circuit. Kyalami could be made to work, if Zandvoort can Kyalami can too, but it hasn’t done the needed work as of now.
            1. 

               Crawliin-from-the-wreckage- Special Unhinged Edition (@davedai)
               14th December 2024, 23:50

               It’s just been a few days since F1 raced in the UAE, who despite not making the acronym, are very much in the same group.

               Well fair enough I guess as it’s only a week or so that CYVN bought into the new champs.
3. 

   Jere (@jerejj)
   14th December 2024, 6:36

   Like with South Africa, very much possible, if not even more, but timing is another matter.

   The return to a single fuel flow meter gives a little more leeway for overall weight reduction since adding a second one caused a marginal increase in 2020.

   COTD: I’ve been equally baffled, but as some pointed out, perhaps the Miami GP upgrade had something to do with his general performance level dropping & never recovering.
4. 

   frood19 (@frood19)
   14th December 2024, 6:43

   The Perez thing is kind of mystifying but also it seems to happen with this red bull team (albon, gasly, even vettel in 2014 to an extent). The best cars are probably on a bit of a knife edge and it could be a trait of some Newey designs (I read the same about hakkinen era McLarens). But with Perez the performance drop off is so stark that it feels like there must be more to it.
5. 

   Jaded
   14th December 2024, 7:07

   So the reasoning for the ethics committee changes is no just reasoning at all. Totally cool and normal Formula 1. If a ship is leaking, wouldn’t you fix the leaks rather than send the captain down to have a good look as it sinks?

   Glad to see the BBC continuing to have the gall to fairly report F1 controversies. We all know this change simply allows the president to have total control of any investigation.
6. 

   EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
   14th December 2024, 7:25

   ‘Thanks’ to F1’s sprint races, the championship fight ended one race earlier than it would have done without them.

   This is ever so slightly flame fanning.

   Whilst obviously true in terms of bare statistics, there is no guarantee that the race outcomes would have been identical if there were no sprint races. Some race set ups may have been different. Some component penalties may not have happened (or more may have happened due to changes in set up in the extra Free Practice sessions). I am not suggesting any variance would have been significant. Heck, I am not even suggesting there would definitely have been any variance, but it is equally impossible to say there would have been none.
   1. 

      Craig
      16th December 2024, 14:59

      I think too many people forget that that rather important detail when it comes to saying “If X happened rather then Y”, especially when there’s a potential Z variable no one had any chance of knowing beforehand.
7. 

   SteveP
   14th December 2024, 8:43

   In 2026, F1 will return to a single fuel flow meter that can do the same job as two

   Does this mean we can look forward to an increased performance from the Ferrari PU ? ;)
8. 

   Matt
   14th December 2024, 10:36

   If they can get the millions together needed to do this, then its obvious they dont need the millions in support western countries donate
9. 

   GT Racer (@gt-racer)
   14th December 2024, 12:48

   COTD..

   I think it simply comes down to the handling characteristics of the Red Bull as well as how it needed to be setup & driven to get the most out of it.

   Sergio is still a good driver who could still win races on weekends when the car is in a good place but he’s not able to drive around the car’s deficiencies in the way that Max can.

   If they turn upto a race weekend & the car is in a good place then Sergio will be in contention for pole/podium/win but on weekends where the car is a bit more of a handful and on occasions where they are struggling to nail down a fast/consistent setup Max can still maximise the cars potential while Sergio can only drive it to the point where it starts to feel less comfortable.

   I think when you go back and look at his time at Sauber & Force India/Racing point something that helped him was that those cars always tended to be designed in a way that made them very drivable & easy to setup which is part of what helped them to be kinder on the tires in the era of high degredation. I think those cars and the way they could be driven simply suited Sergio more than what he got at McLaren in 2013 & for the most part the Red Bull’s since 2021.
10. 

    Leo B
    14th December 2024, 18:19

    The only place in Africa with any connection to F1 is South Africa. Why the blazes is it passed by, are F1 asking too much for the rights? Rwanda seems to have money to burn, though where they got it is a grand mystery.
    1. 

       SPArtacus
       14th December 2024, 19:10

       Not sure if you’ve paid attention to the news coming out of SA for the last decade or so, but the country is beyond broke.
       1. 

          SteveR (@stever)
          14th December 2024, 22:56

          And Rwanda is in a war with the DR of Congo. Why on earth is the FIA going to Kigali for the presentations?
          1. 

             Broderick Harper (@banbrorace)
             15th December 2024, 21:29

             That’s like saying we should have any F1 races during the time of the troubles, Falklands etc
          2. 

             SPArtacus
             16th December 2024, 0:35

             And if you see the first comment it’s me laughing at the notion Rwanda will get a GP in our lifetime.
             1. 

                SPArtacus
                16th December 2024, 0:36

                Sorry, misread your comment.
          3. 

             GeeMac (@geemac)
             16th December 2024, 5:07

             @stever The UK and USA are engaged in a war in Yemen. Bye bye Silverstone, Austin, Miami and Las Vegas if you are applying your same standard….
    2. 

       anon
       15th December 2024, 18:02

       Leo B, there are close political connection between Sulayem, the Rwanda Automobile Club (RAC) and Paul Kagame, who is the President of Rwanda.

       The RAC seems to have been rather influential in persuading other African nations to vote for Sulayem as a block, and in turn Sulayem has been favouring Rwanda in terms of the FIA’s largesse, with Rwanda’s motorsport initiatives getting a larger share of funding given by the FIA to African nations and the FIA hosting several events there that seem to have been largely about boosting Rwanda’s prestige, rather than any practical benefit.

       Added to that, DP World, which is run by Sulayem’s brother, has been particularly active in Rwanda over the past few years, so personal financial considerations may also be playing a part. The Rwandan government has signed agreements with DP World to use their e-commerce platform and has also signed deals that would see them spending several billion on making Kigali a major hob for DP World’s commercial operations in Africa over the coming years, so the current government of Rwanda is an important customer for DP World and Sulayem’s brother.
       1. 

          SPArtacus
          16th December 2024, 0:39

          Great context. Thanks, Anon. This is the type of context Keith should be providing rather than posting anodyne quotes from team bosses as if it were news (e.g., “James Allison not satisfied with 2024 season).
11. 

    GeeMac (@geemac)
    16th December 2024, 5:18

    All the Rwanda bashers need to remember the prime purpose of a country hosting a Grand Prix: To bring global focus onto a country many people would not have otherwise thought about with the hope of obtaining inbound investment. Rwanda is to most in the west just a place where a genocide happened 30 years ago, but to those who have been paying attention they have aspirations of becoming “the Singapore of Africa”, so hosting a race in that context is actually a very sensible idea. Is the current government in Rwanda perfect, no, but they have done a commendable job in rebuilding a country which was ravaged and had to start from zero again just 3 decades ago.

    For those saying “you shouldn’t go there because of X or Y reason”, think carefully before you throw stones. Singapore has huge restrictions on press and other freedoms, the UK and USA have started illegal wars against innocent nations in living memory, while preaching to the world about human rights (while also turning a blind eye to current atrocities in the Middle East but that’s a whole other story). A host of countries in Europe, including France and Italy, are seeing the far-right gain traction at a worrying rate. If you hold every country, including your own, to your impossible ideals the calendar would be empty because no country on the current F1 calendar is perfect, even those in the West.

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