The Vietnamese Grand Prix will be added to the Formula One calendar from April 2020 as the sport’s owners look to “develop new destination cities to broaden F1’s appeal.”
Hanoi promoter Vingroup has signed a multi-year deal to host the race, which will start as “a thrilling street race” in Vietnam’s capital around a 5.565 kilometer track.
“We are really looking forward to seeing Formula One cars speeding around the streets of this fantastic city from 2020,” said F1’s chairman and chief executive Chase Carey.
It is the first new race to be announced under the ownership of Liberty Media, which bought the F1 organization for $4.6 billion in January 2017.
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Unique hybrid layout
Vietnam will become the fourth country in the Asian leg of the Formula One calendar, joining the established Chinese, Singapore and Japanese grands prix.
“We are delighted to announce that Hanoi will host a Formula 1 Grand Prix,” Carey said.
“Since we became involved in this sport in 2017, we have talked about developing new destination cities to broaden the appeal of Formula 1 and the Vietnamese Grand Prix is a realization of that ambition.”
Located in the west of the capital, the new track will be a 22-corner circuit and feature a combination of new and existing roads, with some sections resembling corners from Monaco, Suzuka and Sepang.
“The aim was to create a unique hybrid layout, fusing a street circuit’s characteristics with a permanent countryside track layout within the confines of the city’s topography,” the F1 website explained.
“There was a real desire to steer away from humdrum 90-degree road-junction type corners and foster a layout that facilitates wheel-to-wheel racing while retaining a closed-in street feel that makes city race tracks so demanding for drivers.”