Lewis Hamilton: Africa the "most important" place F1 has to go

Lewis Hamilton

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Africa the "most important" place F1 has to go - Hamilton

Formula 1 currently races on every other habitable continent

Sam Hall

Saturday 27 June 2020 15:42

Lewis Hamilton has championed a return of Formula 1 to Africa, the Mercedes driver saying the sport should 'put people ahead of money'.

Formula 1 has not raced in Africa since 1993, the South African Grand Prix held at Kyalami the last of 23-races to be held on the continent.

Asked on a video for sponsor Petronas, 'If you could choose a location for a new Formula 1 race, where in the world would it be and why?', Hamilton wasted no time in delivering his answer.

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“Easy, Africa," said Hamilton. "It’s such an important to go back. At the moment, Formula 1 goes to countries and doesn’t really leave much behind, if anything.

“Formula 1 has to shift into being a sport that does go to places and leaves behind something that can really help the communities, and I think bringing first the attention back into Africa and really highlighting the beautiful place that it is, I think that is the most important place that we have to go to.

“It needs to be held where it’s not all about money, it’s about the people. In business, that’s not always the case, so again, that’s something I’m really pushing for.”

On the original 2020 calendar, Vietnam and the Netherlands were new additions, while a second race in the United States is also expected to be confirmed in the near future.

The future of the Brazilian Grand Prix remains in doubt, and, should the race be dropped from the calendar, both Africa and South America would be without representation on future calendars.

However, Formula 1 is aware of the need to race on as many continents as possible, Former F1 commercial boss Sean Bratches saying in 2019: "We are now racing on five continents. Africa is the last habitable continent that we don't race on. We want to change that."

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