Egmont Sippel | The Rwandan mystery of Formula 1's return to Africa... and Liberty Media's greed

How is it possible for Rwanda to even contemplate an F1 Grand Prix race? News24 Sport contributor Egmont Sippel wonders. 

Rwanda, I hear, is suddenly in the mix as a possible venue for hosting a F1 Grand Prix.

I'm not sure how to deal with this titbit.

Antarctica is not a destination that springs to mind if you're after a tropical island holiday. You won't ever fly off to Reykjavík to catch a good tan. And Ulaanbaatar ain't in the business of providing high jinks, Hollywood style. So, why a Grand Prix race in Rwanda? On the face of it, the fit is as disjointed as any of the above.

Mmmm. It's a question for the FIA and Liberty Media, of course. Plus, the Rwandan government. They're three of the five main stakeholders in a show commonly known as the F1 circus.

The fourth and fifth estates? 

We'll get to that in a minute. In the meantime, it's worth remembering that the F1 circus pitches its extremely expensive tent on five of the planet's seven continents. 

The fleece-white Antarctica, alas, is not exactly a tropical island where The Beach Boys trip the light fantastic with a Kokomo vibe. Inversely, the mother continent has been the black sheep of the F1 family for quite a while now.

Gone are the pre-World War II days when a small band of Grand Prix racers - with Rosemeyer and Villoresi as leading lights - toughed it out on East London's 24.4km road course known as the Prince George Circuit.

After the war, a permanent and much shorter track was syphoned off the old road course. That's where heroes of yore, like Jim Clark and Graham Hill, used to dice it out, not only for victory but also - in 1962 - for the world title.

On that occasion, Hill was the recipient of Lady Luck's laurel wreath.

In the end, though, East London was