logo
The country hoping to host F1's first African race for decades

The country hoping to host F1's first African race for decades

Independent23-07-2025
Nigeria has become the latest African nation to express interest in hosting a Formula 1 Grand Prix, with former Premier League footballer Marvin Sordell leading the bid.
The proposed project includes a new circuit in the capital, Abuja, alongside a karting track, hotels, and a motorsport museum.
F1 has not held a race in Africa since 1993, but South Africa, Rwanda, and Morocco have also declared their intention to bid.
F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali has been invited to visit Abuja, having previously expressed a desire to return to the continent.
The current F1 calendar is at 24 races, but the Dutch Grand Prix will be removed after next year, and the Belgian Grand Prix will become biennial from 2028, potentially creating space for new venues.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Silverstone Festival to display of F1 championship winning cars
Silverstone Festival to display of F1 championship winning cars

BBC News

time41 minutes ago

  • BBC News

Silverstone Festival to display of F1 championship winning cars

A "legendary" Formula 1 team will showcase some of its former world championship winning race cars at a motorsport festival, organisers Silverstone Festival in Northamptonshire, due to be held over the August bank holiday weekend, has announced four cars from the former Norfolk-based Team Lotus will be part of display featuring F1 cars raced by all 34 of the sport's world showcase is part of a special celebration to mark the 75th anniversary of the Formula 1 World Wigley, the event's director, said the display was an "ambitious challenge that no one has ever attempted before". He said: "Now, the star-studded collection is not only nearly complete, but it also features an incredible number of title-winning cars. McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull, and Williams have already confirmed their support for the showcase, contributing title-winning cars driven by illustrious champions including Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, Fernando Alonso, Sir Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. Team Lotus was founded by Colin Chapman and recorded its first F1 entry in at Hethel, near Norwich, the team counted world champions Jim Clark, Jochen Rindt, Emerson Fittipaldi, and Mario Andretti among its driver Clark was intrinsically linked with Team Lotus in its formative years, winning titles in 1963 and 1965 and the "iconic" Lotus 25/R4 in which he won his first crown will join the display, alongside those driven by Rindt, Fittipaldi and festival will also feature performances from Natasha Bedingfield and Craig David presents Silverstone Festival runs from 22-24 August. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

Egypt's non-oil sector shows signs of stability as PMI nears growth threshold
Egypt's non-oil sector shows signs of stability as PMI nears growth threshold

Reuters

timean hour ago

  • Reuters

Egypt's non-oil sector shows signs of stability as PMI nears growth threshold

Aug 5 (Reuters) - Egypt's non-oil private sector showed signs of stabilisation in July, with employment rising for the first time in nine months and a softer decline in output and new orders, according to the latest S&P Global Egypt PMI report. The headline PMI rose to 49.5 in July from 48.8 in June, remaining below the 50.0 threshold that separates growth from contraction. However, the index reached its joint-highest level in five months, suggesting only a marginal decline in business conditions. "Businesses ... had the confidence to hire new staff, leading to an increase in employment for the first time in nine months, if only a fractional one," said David Owen, Senior Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence. Employment rose as firms responded to signs of stabilising demand and rising backlogs of work. Output and new orders continued to fall, albeit at a softer rate than in June, with some firms noting increased activity amid tentative signs of recovering sales. The wholesale and retail sector remained the largest drag on demand and activity. Input prices rose at a quicker pace, driven by higher costs for items such as cement and fuel, yet remained below the long-run trend. Selling charges increased for the third consecutive month, although the rate of inflation was modest. Despite ongoing challenges, optimism about future activity improved slightly from June's record low, with firms expressing hopes for slower inflation and reduced regional conflict. However, overall confidence remained historically subdued.

Swiss watchmaker targets openings after Edinburgh launch
Swiss watchmaker targets openings after Edinburgh launch

The Herald Scotland

time2 hours ago

  • The Herald Scotland

Swiss watchmaker targets openings after Edinburgh launch

His comments came as the watchmaker, which was founded in 1868, opened a boutique on Princes Street in partnership with Scottish jeweller Chisholm Hunter. Mr Grainger-Herr expressed his excitement in securing the site at 99 Princes Street, overlooking Edinburgh Castle, for the brand's first standalone boutique in Scotland. It builds on the brand's association with the country which has been forged through its long-running status as official timing partner to golf's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. This year's tournament will take place at the Old Course in St Andrews and Kingsbarns in October. Mr Grainger-Herr declared the company, which collaborated with Cloister Watch Company for a piece worn by Brad Pitt's character, Sonny Hayes, in current film F1, would 'absolutely' look at similar openings elsewhere in Scotland. 'We are taking the same approach to most of Europe at the moment,' he said. 'We are seeing an increased regionalisation in many parts of Europe when it comes to where the hotspots are for luxury retail. Five, 10 years ago you just used to go to the main centres, being London and Paris and so on. Now we see a new crop of cities that are developing. 'People's changing lifestyles and being more flexible in their working arrangements now means that we are seeing many cities like Edinburgh become a major hotspot for luxury shopping. That's why, across the UK, in England as well as in Scotland, we are looking at opening boutiques in cities beyond the traditional capital cities. We are seeing a good amount of regionalisation, and it is the same in Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, all over the place. We are seeing second cities coming on quite strongly.' Read more: Mr Grainger-Herr told The Herald that the brand's long association as the official timing partner for the Dunhill Links had opened its eyes to the prospect of having a 'more permanent representation' and offering a 'more complete brand experience to what we had before' in Scotland. He also flagged the attraction of the 'great retail infrastructure' in [[Edinburgh]], as well as in Glasgow. 'We are super pleased to have opened with Chisholm Hunter and having a really nice space here on the corner of Princes Street, looking straight at the castle which us absolutely beautiful,' he said. Asked how the partnership with Chisholm Hunter works in practice, Mr Grainger-Herr replied that it is 'very much a standard watchmaking model, in the sense that we have a lot of our external boutiques that are operated by our retail partners, who would also have multi-brand stores'. He explained: 'If you got to Chisholm Hunter in Dundee, for example, you will find a multi-brand store… it is the same established partners that often will co-invest with us into boutiques that we then run on an external basis to just be able to offer [a] more complete brand experience to our customers. There is a more complete collection [and] there are obviously boutique-exclusive pieces which are only available through the mono-brand boutiques. That would mean somebody like Chisholm Hunter would have a more complete collection representation than they would necessarily have in a multi-brand [store]. It is a win-win for both to co-invest into a model like that.' The new boutique, which is currently displaying the watch with the green dial worn by Brad Pitt in F1, is based close to Chisholm Hunter's 'excellent' multi-brand store in Edinburgh. Mr Grainger-Herr said the reinvigoration of the retail offer on Princes Street was a key part of the attraction. 'It is fantastic to be able to get access to a location like this,' he said. 'It is often the local partners that have the on-the-ground knowledge that helps to secure key locations like that, and their knowledge of what works and what doesn't. (Image: IWC Schaffhausen) Christoph Grainger-Herr 'We have seen that in many of the cities we have opened boutiques recently – that kind of relationship helps a lot. Reinvigorating the retail scape on Princes Street has been important as well, with multiple shopping points emerging. I think Princes Street, in terms of the watch offering, has been much upgraded in recent times.' Meanwhile, Mr Grainger-Herr said consumers had generally emerged from the coronavirus pandemic with a 'fantastic knowledge about luxury brands and watches [that we have] never seen before'. He said: 'We see that multi-brand environments are really a very good offering to the sort of customer who has researched a lot more before they actually physically walk into a shop. You have this really nice combination where obviously the retailer brings an existing customer base. 'We have seen since we opened here that we have a transfer of the partner's customer base who have been introduced from the multi-brand [store] or introduced from other brands and then suddenly come to a boutique like this. But also [there are] obviously walk-ins, both local and tourists. In many places in Scotland, tourism from the US is a major driver of the footfall in luxury retail that we see. 'It has been really encouraging since we opened the boutique here on Princes Street to see the amount of actual new customer walk-in business that are just simply attracted by seeing the brand in this triple A location here and coming in to discover.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store