For several years, Formula One, F1, world star Lewis Hamilton has pushed for the return of F1 Africa. All these years, he has maintained that it is unjust to keep ignoring Africa considering its importance to the global sports industry.
At the Dutch Grand Prix in August, he re-echoed his stance. “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,”
“There’s a huge amount of work needs to be done there. 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,” he added.
The last time a F1 race happened in Africa was at Kyalami circuit in South Africa. The seven-time champion has consistently pushed for the return to the same country or Rwanda.
The Kyalami circuit was constructed in 1961 and opened on November 4 the same year. It started hosting Formula One World Championship in 1967. However, since 1993 F1 is yet to return to its tracks.
In 2021, Hamilton told reporters at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas that: “the place that I really feel is dear to my heart and most important for me is to get a race back in South Africa.”
It’s been three years and the cause still remains dear to Hamilton’s heart. However, push acks to this dream mirrors the case with Africa on most fronts.
For example, D.R. Congo is one of the countries with the highest expert of technological raw materials yet it remains one of the poorest. And though it has produced significant people in sports such as the late NBA star Dikembe Mutombo who gave back to the country, the struggle remains individualistic.
Though Hamilton is not from Africa, this remains largely individualistic for him and Africa can only wait till his dream his achieved on its soil.
