On Thursday, Lewis Hamilton renewed calls for a Formula 1 grand prix in Africa, saying he does not want to retire from F1 without having raced there.
Lewis Hamilton has said the African continent needs to “unite and take [Africa] back from the French, the Spanish, the Portuguese and the British”. The Telegraph has the story.
The British seven-time world champion, who described himself as “half-African”, vowed to carry on racing in Formula One until there is a grand prix in Africa.
Hamilton, 41, speaking ahead of the 2026 season opener in Melbourne, was asked by a South African journalist about a possible return of F1 to the continent and in which country he would most like a race to be held.
The 1993 South African Grand Prix at Kyalami was the last grand prix in Africa. Hamilton said he had been “fighting for the past six, seven years” to get a race in Africa back on the calendar.
“There’s one on every other continent, why not Africa?” the Ferrari driver said. “I know they [F1] are really trying. I think they’ve been to quite a few different countries.
“The ones that I’ve enjoyed the most: I loved Kenya. [But] I don’t think we’re going to have a grand prix in Kenya. Rwanda was spectacular. Two places I felt like I could live. South Africa is stunning. I think those are the ones I think would be good places for us to potentially go to.”
Hamilton then said that he did not like the fact that other countries “controlled” Africa for its resources.
“I think it is the most beautiful part of the world, and I don’t like that the rest of the world owns so much of it and takes so much from it and no one speaks about it,” he said. “I’m really hoping that the people that are running those different countries all unite and come together and take Africa back. That’s what I want to see. Take it back from the French, take it back from the Spanish, take it back from the Portuguese and the British.
“It’s so important for the future of that continent. They have all the resources to be the greatest and most powerful place in the world, and that’s probably why they are being controlled the way they are. But anyways, move on.”
