F1 Today | African GP return boosted as Verstappen reveals Red Bull's 'big priority'

Looking ahead to the remainder of the season, Verstappen made it clear that Red Bull's primary focus must be on extracting more overall performance from the RB22. While outright pace remains the team's biggest concern, he also highlighted the need to understand why the car's competitiveness can fluctuate so dramatically, with performance sometimes dropping unexpectedly over the course of a race weekend or even between the opening and closing stages of a single Grand Prix. According to Verstappen, solving those inconsistencies will be a big priority.

The Dutchman also touched on the power unit, admitting that further gains in that department would be welcome. However, he stopped short of making any firm predictions, explaining that the team will take another look at the situation once Formula 1 returns from the summer shutdown.

Formula 1's long-standing ambition of returning to Africa has received a fresh boost, with CEO Stefano Domenicali confirming that talks are continuing to progress. While he stopped short of indicating when an African Grand Prix could return, he explained that negotiations remain active as the championship continues to explore future opportunities around the world. Alongside Africa, Domenicali revealed that South American and Asian countries are also interested in hosting Grands Prix.

An African Grand Prix has been absent from the Formula 1 calendar since the 1993 South African Grand Prix at Kyalami, where Alain Prost claimed victory driving for Williams. Since then, the championship has evolved into a truly global series, expanding to 24 Grands Prix spread across Europe, Asia, North America, South America and Oceania. As a result, Africa remains the only inhabited continent without a Formula 1 race, with the series having gone more than three decades without visiting the continent.