Lewis Hamilton's F1 ambition on hold with new race venue on the cards

Lewis Hamilton's calls for an F1 race in Africa seem to have been ignored, as the FIA is reportedly about to announce a new Grand Prix on the streets of Madrid in 2026 'very soon'. If approved, the race would take place in 2026, with two Grands Prix being held in Spain that year. 

Despite Hamilton's hopes for a return to Kyalami for a South African Grand Prix, no steps have been taken to make this a reality - with a new race in Europe set to be announced instead. F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali previously spoke in positive tone about bringing the sport to the continent.

Speaking last year, he admitted: "There are areas of the world that wants to have Formula One, and I think that one area that we want to develop is the African area, going on to say: We are a world championship, and that's an area where we are not there."

Hamilton also threw his star power behind the idea back in 2015 after winning his third Drivers' Championship title, telling the BBC: "I would love for it to be in South Africa. They are great sporting fans and are just petrolheads who love cars. I would love to go there, it would be absolutely insane.

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"There is a huge following there and it is one of the most important Grands Prix we need to get on the calendar. This is the first time that black South Africans have had someone to relate to in this sport," he stated. "I feel incredibly privileged to be at the front of that."

Earlier this year, Hamilton again urged F1 bosses to consider staging an event in Africa. In 2023, the Las Vegas Grand Prix was added to the F1 calendar for the first time since 1982 with the aim of drawing in new fans off the back of Netflix's popular 'Drive to Survive' series.

While Hamilton was full of praise for the new event he took the opportunity to campaign for Africa as the only continent that currently doesn't have a Grand Prix. He said: "it's not my job to decide how many races there are [in America]. But we definitely don't need anymore! We definitely don't need any more races.

The British driver added: "There's one more race we need and that's going to be Africa. We have all the other continents and why not there? So that's the one I'm working on pushing right now."

The potential move towards Madrid hosting a Grand Prix could eventually come at the cost of the Barcelona GP but Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is determined to extend its deal. According to Spanish outlet Marca, the Catalonian circuit's chiefs are open to negotiating a new deal for another decade, with their current contract set to run until 2026.

• An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story.