Lewis Hamilton is a magnificent racing driver, having won seven world championships — the greatest in the sport’s history.

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But when he's not putting his foot down, he has an unfortunate tendency to put his foot in it -- and this week is no exception.

Speaking in Melbourne, ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, he called on Africa to “unite and take it back -- take it back from the French, the Spanish, the Portuguese and the British”.

Take Africa back? Spain's last colony to become independent was Equatorial Guinea in 1968, Portugal's was Angola in 1975 and France's was Djibouti in 1977.

Britain granted independence to all its African colonies -- around twenty in total -- between 1957 and 1968. And, controversial though it is to say, independence hasn't always brought a net benefit for the citizens of those countries.

Zimbabwe, the last to achieve independence, is an instructive case study in post-colonial economics. Rhodesia, under British administration, was described by the new Mugabe government when it took power as having “one of the most structurally developed economies and effective state systems in Africa”.

By 2008, Mugabe had destroyed it so comprehensively that inflation reached 89 sextillion per cent. GDP per capita is lower today than it was 50 years ago. The breadbasket of Africa has become a basket case.

We can argue about the costs and benefits of colonialism in Africa -- and the moral case is certainly stronger than the economic one.

What is unarguable is that the country with its tentacles stretching across the continent today is not Britain, Spain, Portugal or France, but China.

While Hamilton rails against non-existent European colonialism, Chinese state-backed enterprises have been systematically acquiring mining rights, infrastructure contracts, and economic dependencies across the continent on a scale that would make Cecil Rhodes blush.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chinese firms now control a substantial share of the world’s cobalt supply. Angola owes about $68 billion to China and Ethiopia has relied on the Communist state to build its transport and manufacturing base. That’s not ancient history -- it’s happening now.

Hamilton is entitled to his opinions, but his knowledge of history doesn't appear to extend beyond watching TikTok reels.

The legacy of British rule in Africa is complex and in places shameful. But it ended sixty years ago. The forces controlling Africa’s natural resources today are not European. Perhaps, when Hamilton next visits Kenya -- a country he says he loves -- he might notice who’s building the roads.

Lord Toby Young is the founder of the Free Speech Union

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