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Lewis Hamilton admitted he will be "forced" to extend his Formula One career in a bid to be on the grid when the sport finally returns to Africa. Earlier this month, it was announced that F1 intends to race in Rwanda, a 10-year agreement having been signed with the first race set to take place at an unconfirmed point in the early 2030s. When that inaugural African Grand Prix does happen, it will mark the first time F1 has raced on the continent since the 1993 South African Grand Prix at Kyalami Circuit, north of Johannesburg.
However, it may come too late for Hamilton. The seven-time world champion has been the most vocal driver in pushing for the sport to return to Africa. However, he is already 41 years old and will be 45 before the start of the 2030 season.
He has already been racing in F1 for longer than he expected, having previously said he didn't see himself still on the grid beyond his 40th birthday. And now he has admitted he will need to extend his career even further beyond his original plan if he is to get the chance to race in Africa.
Hamilton was speaking about racing against 20-year-old champion elect Kimi Antonelli, on media day ahead of this weekend's United States Grand Prix, when he moved the conversation onto the Rwanda race.
He said: "I'm looking forward to racing with him longer and we'll see about... I mean, I'm now forced to have to stay a lot longer because we have a race in Africa and that's been my dream, to be able to race in Africa."
Antonelli then told Hamilton: "You've got to come," to which the Ferrari driver replied: "Yeah, I mean, I have to keep fighting to try and stay fit if I can, if I can still punch out good results over the next year, we'll keep it going."
When asked directly about F1's impending return to Africa, Hamilton expressed his delight and said that, while he was not officially involved in the agreement, he spent a lot of time working on it in private. He explained: "I've been advocating for a race in Africa for many, many, many years, and countless meetings with the stakeholders.
"So many meetings with Stefano [Domenicali, F1 chief executive] at his office in London, but also race weekends, countless calls, 'What's happening? Where are we going? Who are you meeting with?' Many meetings with different presidents from different countries, lots of phone calls with different presidents from different countries within Africa.
"I think for me, it's a place that deserves to have a Grand Prix. It's more than just about one country: it's about the continent in itself. There's so many beautiful countries within it and the people are so lovely. The culture is so rich, and I think it's important that we get to show that to the world, and we get to do that with our sport.
"We get to go to all these different countries, and people see some of these countries they didn't really know too much about, and all of a sudden, it's on the screen, and kids are talking about it. They go to school talking about it, and so I'm really, really hopeful for that Grand Prix."
He admitted, though, that holding an F1 race in Rwanda should not distract from issues such as the country's poor human rights record. The decision to award a race to the central African country has been criticised by many, including Amnesty International and also neighbouring country the Democratic Republic of Congo, which accuses Rwandan president Paul Kagame of supporting rebel group M23.
Hamilton said: "Going there doesn't mean that you neglect the things that are happening there. Hopefully, many people start to educate themselves a little bit more about what is happening there and what has happened there for hundreds of years. I hope that does spark the conversation.
"And then I guess I'll finish it off with this: I think we need to make sure we're pushing to free Congo, free Sudan, free Syria, free Palestine. I think there's a lot of peace that I'm hoping we get to at some stage."
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