Lewis Hamilton says he does not want to retire from Formula 1 until he can race in a grand prix in Africa.

The seven-time world champion said he had been "fighting in the background" for the past six or seven years, asking the sport's bosses "why are we not in Africa?".

"I don't want to leave the sport without having a grand prix there, without getting to race there," Hamilton said. "I'm chasing them - when is it going to be?

"They're setting certain dates. I'm like, damn, I could be running out of time, so I'm going to be here for a while until that happens, because that would be amazing, given that I'm half-African."

Hamilton - F1's first black driver, with a father of Afro-Caribbean background and a white mother - said he knew F1 bosses were "really trying" to arrange a race on the continent.

However, there is no imminent prospect of one appearing on the schedule, and the chances of there being a race in Africa before the end of this decade are low.

Rwanda was the most recent country linked to hosting a race, but the chances of that have rescinded.

There were also talks in recent years about returning to South Africa - at Kyalami near Johannesburg or in Cape Town - but both collapsed.

Kyalami hosted races from 1967-85 and 1992-93, when South Africa was still under apartheid.

Hamilton said he was concerned about the way many African countries continue to be exploited by richer Western nations, especially those that colonised the continent in the 18th and 19th centuries.

"It is the most beautiful part of the world, and I don't like that the rest of the world owns so much of it and takes so much from it and no-one speaks about it," Hamilton said.

"I'm really hoping that the people that are running those different countries all unite and come together and take Africa back. That's what I want to see.

"Take it back from the French. Take it back from the Spanish. Take it back from the Portuguese and the British.

"It's so important for the future of that continent. They have all the resources to be the greatest and most powerful place in the world, and that's probably why they are being controlled the way they are."

'I lost sight of who I was'

Before the first race of the season in Australia the weekend, Hamilton said he has "rediscovered" himself after a difficult first season at Ferrari last year.

Amid a series of poor performances in 2025, Hamilton made a series of negative comments about his own performances, including that he was "useless" and was "not looking forward" .

He said he spent the winter cultivating a "positive mental attitude".

"The break was really positive," he said. "It was my surroundings. It was the people that I was with. It's not my first rodeo. So it's understanding how to flip things. And it's not that easy to do each time.

"But I always talk about cultivating a positive mental attitude. And that's what I focus on the winter doing.

"A lot of it came from training. Training hard on Christmas Day. Also knowing that I find it hard.

"I believe in myself that I've put more work in than anyone around me. And I believe in myself. Rediscovering myself was really a big part of it as well.

"As I said in one of my [Instagram] posts, I kind of lost sight for a second of who I was. And that person's gone. You won't see that person again."

Hamilton said he felt more settled with Ferrari after a season's experience of the "very different culture" at the team from what he knew at Mercedes and McLaren.

"It's massively different to the first year," he said. "And it's a much nicer feeling coming, having spent a year with the team, understanding the culture, understanding ways, finding ways of working together.

"We're in a good place now together as a team. And I feel very gelled with the team today. I'm much happier."

Ferrari failed to win a race in 2025 but are optimistic they start this season in a more competitive position as F1 introduces its biggest regulation change in history.

Hamilton said: "We're leaving behind the bad and taking the head, moving forward with the good. We're sharp, prepared and we know what we need to do.

"But we also know there are massive challenges for all of us with the new rules and regulations."

Team-mate Charles Leclerc said: I prefer to be in a position where we have to calm the expectations down rather than having to manage a lot of negativity around the team. That's always a bit of a better situation to be in.

"But in both ways I don't think that this is something that needs to change our own mood inside the team." (BBC Sports)

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