Rwanda will write a new chapter in Africa’s rich F1 heritage

As I sat scribbling in Changi Airport in Singapore last Monday I looked at a world map, and when you consider the sheer size of Africa in comparison with, as it happened in my case, Australia, it seems crazy that the continent doesn’t have its own Grand Prix.

And yet, back in the day (as Lewis likes to say), when the South African Grand Prix used to kick off the season, it was an absolutely key, super-popular race on the calendar as far as the F1 circus was concerned.

Especially when it was held at Kyalami and drivers and team personnel habituated the Kyalami Ranch where they could laze in the sun together after a day’s critical pre-season testing…