Given that a big section of it was to use public roads that had been resurfaced, it had already delivered a benefit without even needing to host a race.Īnd if it were to go on and host a grand prix, then the track needed maintaining as well as investments made in promoting it for 2021. The track was ready – and pretty spectacular, having been worked on extensively by F1’s motorsports group itself – but it was located on previously undeveloped land in an unglamorous part of the city, slightly out of sight and out of mind. Without a history or legacy, there was nobody in a position of power who had the same vision to bring the sport to Hanoi, so the project started to drift. Covid provides the ideal excuse to step away and cut their losses With that, the main driving force behind the event had disappeared, and F1 found there was nobody there to pick up the baton. In developments completely separate to the race, Chung had been arrested in late August for masterminding the appropriation of classified documents, ultimately being sentenced to five years in jail. The circuit was ready for the April 2020 GP but Covid restrictions intervened And by the time that announcement was officially made, the political landscape had changed greatly. So like a number other grands prix – including the return to Zandvoort – the 2020 race was eventually cancelled. Understandably, there was little interest in hosting an inaugural event without fans. By the end of March 13, Vietnam had also been postponed, in a move that turned out to be the beginning of the end of the race, at least for now. He had been to Hanoi for talks about the Covid situation ahead of its impending debut on the calendar. #F1 2020 vietnam setup full#So the fanbase was extremely small, which was reflected in the lack of media knowledge as they rarely needed to cover the sport from afar.ĭavid Coulthard waves the Vietnamese flag during a 2018 Red Bull demonstration run in Ho Chi Min Cityīut that started to change when Red Bull carried out two show runs in the years leading up to the debut event, and to the outside world there was no reason to doubt that the full grid would soon be tearing around the Hanoi streets, trying to build that fanbase.į1 chairman Chase Carey arrived in Melbourne directly from Vietnam to announce the cancellation of 2020’s season-opening race. For a while the closest Formula 1 had come to having an impact on the country was when personnel tacked on holidays after the Malaysian Grand Prix. #F1 2020 vietnam setup driver#There had never been a race there before, or a driver or team associated with Vietnam. The race organisers were aware that knowledge of the sport was limited among their journalists, and why wouldn’t it be? I was lucky enough to visit the site of the circuit back in the summer of 2019, while in Hanoi to help provide training to local media about what they could expect when F1 came to town. In the end a race was approved when the VinGroup conglomerate committed to backing it financially, and work could begin on the venue around the My Dinh National Stadium. But he was largely a lone warrior, with little in the way of wider government support. It was championed by the chairman of Hanoi – Nguyen Duc Chung – who wanted to bring the sport to Vietnam. There had been talks about a potential grand prix in Vietnam stretching back to Bernie Ecclestone’s time in charge of F1, but it was under Liberty Media’s ownership that the race finally got the green light.į1 boss with Nguyen Duc Chung in 2018 after a press conference to announce the Vietnamese Grand Prix for 2020 The answer is a complex one, but unsurprisingly at the heart of it is Covid-19. So how did we end up with a brand new circuit sitting in a major city, and be facing the possibility that it will not be used for the purpose it was intended and never see an F1 car complete a single lap? Sign-up now for access to a limited number of articles.
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