Warm up before the weekend rolls in:

Formula 1 just ended a multi-decade continental drought by striking an agreement to bring Grand Prix racing back to Africa. In what year did Africa last host an official Formula 1 World Championship race (the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami)?

(Scroll to the bottom for the answer and context!)

Last edition we reported on an “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine, and we had doubts about whether the agreement would hold - well, it didn’t.

Russia continued its attacks on Ukrainian installations, and Ukraine has just announced that it will resume its own strikes on Russian refineries and depots.

We all know what this means. Fuel prices will rise, inflation will continue to escalate, and the world’s economy is balancing on a razor’s edge.

The war in Europe is going on for five years now, the same war Donald Trump said would be over in 24 hours when he assumed office in 2024.

The humanitarian toll is the biggest crisis. Estimates put the death toll over 700,000 combined - think about that for a moment.

Africa has its issues; we can all agree on that. Our issues tend to attract the biggest magnifying glasses, but to keep things in perspective, Europe and the rest of the world, for that matter, are also stuck in a bloody, disgraceful, heartbreaking quagmire.

The 30-Year Drought Ends

Formula 1 is heading back to the African continent for the first time since 1993.

This surprised some, but we have been following this story for a while; good news.

Formula 1 confirmed a 10-year deal to stage a brand-new Grand Prix in Rwanda beginning in the early 2030s.

The plan centers on a purpose-built, four-mile track boasting 17 turns, designed just north of Kigali. The East African nation beat out heavily favored counter-bids from South Africa's historic Kyalami circuit, claiming its position as the continent’s undisputed sports-tourism heavyweight.

The Soft Power Playbook

For Rwanda, this is not just about asphalt and burning rubber; it is the culmination of a decade-long branding campaign.

From the high-profile "Visit Rwanda" sleeve patches on European football kits to hosting the Basketball Africa League and the FIA General Assemblies, Kigali has methodically turned sports into an economic centerpiece.

Haters will inevitably question the high price tag of building an FIA-grade circuit, but Rwandan investors are eyeing the bigger picture: an influx of rich global travelers, television broadcast royalties, and the infrastructure spillover that follows a global motorsport calendar.

The Chop Take

Hosting a Grand Prix is the ultimate luxury branding exercise. It works only if the host nation can convert three days of engine roar into year-round foreign exchange earnings, logistics hubs, and engineering jobs for local talent. Rwanda has shown unmatched audacity on the global sports stage; now comes the hard mechanical test of turning a racetrack into an industrial flywheel.

While Kigali prepares for F1 fun, Dodoma is about to close one of the largest natural resource transactions on the continent.

Tanzanian Finance Minister Khamis Mussa Omar announced this week that the government is "almost there" on finalizing agreements for a landmark $42 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) development with big dog energy bosses Equinor and Shell.

The project aims to tap roughly 47 trillion cubic feet of deep offshore gas reserves, placing Tanzania next to Mozambique and Nigeria as a top gas exporter to Europe and Asia.

The Chop Take

A $42 billion investment plan can completely reconstruct an economy the size of Tanzania, where national GDP sits around $85 billion.

The trick with mega-resource projects like this is keeping domestic gas production high enough to power fuel industries and fertilizer plants, rather than shipping the entire fuel to get liquefied and exported away while the local grid goes hungry.

Sexy Ayra Starr made history on October 11 by becoming the first African artist to headline a halftime show at an NFL International Game.

The Nigerian Afrobeats star delighted at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London during the Philadelphia Eagles–Jacksonville Jaguars game, bringing Afrobeats to a major American sports stage with a huge international audience.

The set included songs such as her smash hit “Rush” and “Dangerous,” according to Premium Times’ coverage.

The Chop take: We love Ayra. And we love the fact that she was picked to play this venue. What a great opportunity to introduce her to new fans, and to highlight the mass appeal that Nigerian and African artists bring to the global scene.

And to the actual game was a wild one, fitting for the occasion.

Answer: B) 1993

The last Formula 1 World Championship race held on the African continent was the 1993 South African Grand Prix at the Kyalami circuit outside Johannesburg, won by racing legend Alain Prost in a Williams-Renault. The upcoming Rwanda Grand Prix marks F1's long-awaited return to African soil after more than three decades away.

Rwanda's capital city, Kigali, holds the distinction of being universally ranked among the cleanest and greenest urban hubs in the world, thanks in large part to Umuganda—a centuries-old communal practice codified into national policy, where citizens across the country unite on the last Saturday morning of every month for neighborhood cleanup, tree planting, and infrastructure upkeep!

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