Rwanda Won F1's African Race by Being Simple. The Politics Are Not

Formula 1 did not choose Rwanda because it was the obvious African name for a grand prix. It chose Rwanda because the country turned up with one coherent proposal, the money to back it and no squabbling promoters to referee. That is the commercial logic behind a 10-year agreement for an African Grand Prix starting in the "early 2030s", and it is also what makes the politics so awkward.

A long wait, and a long search

The last time the championship visited the continent was in 1993, in South Africa. F1 president Stefano Domenicali described the new agreement as a "landmark", and it closes a gap of nearly 40 years.

The desire is hardly fresh. As the BBC's Andrew Benson tells it, Liberty Media has been working towards this for nearly 10 years, ever since it took over the sport at the start of 2017. Lewis Hamilton has long argued that Africa deserves a race, though the people running F1 already saw the appeal themselves.

Why Morocco and South Africa fell away

The reasons other candidates fell short are practical, not romantic. Morocco never managed to assemble the necessary funding. South Africa, meanwhile, has as many as four projects in play, run by different promoters across three locations, with two of them in Cape Town.

For a series fielding interest from other countries when its calendar has little room, that tangle was a deterrent. In my analysis, a championship with bidders queuing has no incentive to mediate between rival promoters at home. Rwanda presented a finished package: one plan, secured finance and the drive to deliver it.

What is actually being built

The track is planned for Bugesera, 25 miles south of the capital, Kigali. It forms one piece of a larger scheme beside a new international airport that is still being built, with space for entertainment, housing, hotels, spas, sports science and an innovation hub. For now the land is untouched, yet people close to the project expect no trouble finishing it by 2030.

Alex Wurz, a former F1 driver, drew up the layout. He favours flowing circuits that test drivers, and he has looked to Spa-Francorchamps, Suzuka and Mugello for inspiration. The BBC observes that the published images echo the opening section of Suzuka. Nothing is final, as teams and drivers will be consulted further. The plan is for roughly 6km (3.7 miles), with 17 corners and nearly 200m of elevation change, using the hilly terrain to shape a dramatic course.

After years of flat, anonymous modern venues, that brief sounds promising. It stays a brief, though, until the people who will drive it have weighed in.

The case Rwanda makes for itself

President Paul Kagame has championed the project as a shop window for his country, promising "jobs, skills, tourism and new business". He added that he hopes it opens the door to more races elsewhere in Africa, and that he views Rwanda as part of a wider continent rather than on its own.

Domenicali was generous in his praise, calling Rwanda "one of the world's great success stories". F1's own statement talked of reaching 100 million people across Africa, a largely untapped audience according to the BBC.

Rwanda receives international aid, so there is an obvious objection that the money could be better used elsewhere. The government's reply is that the cash comes from a newly created development fund that blends public and private investment. Last month it also unveiled a five-year plan to draw in £3.5bn of private capital.

The sportswashing problem

This is where the neat logistical tale runs out. The BBC expects the race to prove divisive because Rwanda has faced earlier sportswashing accusations, a term for staging big sporting events to divert attention from conduct that parts of the international community consider troubling. Separately, the Democratic Republic of Congo has taken Rwanda to the International Court of Justice, alleging breaches of several international treaties on genocide prevention, racial discrimination, women's rights and torture. These are accusations and a case brought, not findings.

Similar criticism has been aimed at Arsenal and Aston Villa over their sponsorship arrangements with Rwanda. The BBC adds that F1 already visits countries open to the same charge, Saudi Arabia chief among them.

F1's own charter pledges "respecting internationally recognised human rights in its operations globally", while noting that it concentrates on matters within its direct influence. Felix Jakens of Amnesty International UK argued that Rwanda is using elite sport to burnish its reputation and that F1 "must not be a bystander". The BBC piece does not include a reply from F1 to that challenge.

Analysis: a sporting win with a political bill

It is tempting to treat the deal as two unrelated stories. One is a commercial and sporting triumph: Liberty's search is over, an appealing circuit is on the drawing board and a big audience opens up. The other is a reputational gamble of a kind F1 has taken before.

In truth they are the same story. The very thing that won Rwanda the race, a state-backed project with clear ambition and leaders willing to pay, is what draws the scrutiny. A nation that uses a grand prix as an instrument of national strategy, as Rwanda openly does with its tourism and investment goals, will struggle to present the event as politically neutral.

The test for F1 is whether the wording in its charter turns into action. Amnesty wants it to use its leverage, and the charter itself talks of monitoring human rights impacts. With the race still some years off, F1 has time to demonstrate that rather than merely state it.

Research: This article uses the archived evidence supplied for this story. Story inspiration: BBC Sport's original report.