The Price of an African Grand Prix
Formula 1 will return to Africa for the first time since 1993, and it will do so in a country of 14.6 million people with no circuit capable of staging a Grand Prix and a gross national income per head of about $1,040.
On Tuesday in Kigali, President Paul Kagame, F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali and FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem announced a 10-year agreement for a Formula 1 African Grand Prix, presented by Visit Rwanda, to begin in the early 2030s.
The race will be run on a track that does not yet exist, at Bugesera, roughly 40 kilometres south of the capital.
It is a remarkable outcome.
It is also worth asking why this country, why this way, and at what cost, because the answers say as much about the modern economics of the sport as they do about Africa.
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