Vietnam Grand Prix rendering

New images show how 2020 Vietnam Grand Prix will look

2020 Vietnam Grand Prix

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The Vietnam Grand Prix promoters have produced new renderings to illustrate how the brand new addition to the 2020 F1 calendar will look.

Formula 1 will visit the country’s capital city Hanoi for its first race on the new street circuit next year. The 5.6 kilometre circuit uses a combination of city road plus a purpose-built section, similar to previous city venues such as Singapore and Adelaide.

Formula 1 motorsport director Ross Brawn said the championship’s input into the Hanoi track design will make it “the first circuit that’s been designed from the ground up to be a great racing circuit.”

F1 intends to learn from its experience with the Vietnam circuit to shape future plans for new tracks, Brawn explained. “There’s nothing to say we’re a hundred percent, we’ll probably make one or two mistakes, but I think we will go a long way towards the sort of circuit we want,” he said. “And we will learn from Vietnam and do the next one.

“We don’t want all circuits to be the same. It’s incredibly boring if we had great racing circuits but they’re all exactly the same template. We want countries to have their identity, we want circuits to be unique. Vietnam will be half-city, half-race circuit which I think is pretty exciting.”

Construction work at the circuit began in March. Formula 1 Management has indicated the race will be run in April next year. This suggests the race is likely to take the slot held by the Azerbaijan Grand Prix this year, meaning Baku’s round of the world championship will be held later in the season, most likely in June.

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31 comments on “New images show how 2020 Vietnam Grand Prix will look”

  1. I’m assuming that that is LeClerc holding off Norris at the front.
    Why is Seb so far down the field?

    Also I can’t see either Williams at all in this image …. not a god track for them already then ;(

    1. A “god” track? – typo or Freudian slip? :O

    2. @nullapax There’s an Alfa on pole in the grid pics! First Merc is P9, would make for an interesting race.

      There’s a few interesting characters in the crowd too. My personal favourite being a lady who’s got herself a whole bottle of whiskey!

      1. @nullapax This is a safety car restart on lap 4, originally triggered by Haas, who are still trying to gather data from their 2019 Australia GP package. The Williams have already been lapped and just couldn’t catch up to the pack in time for the restart.

        Obviously…

      2. @gobert I personally enjoy how many identical twins there are, even going as far as to wear the same clothes and pose the same. Astonishing place.

    3. Three or four car teams for 2020 confirmed.

  2. ““the first circuit that’s been designed from the ground up to be a great racing circuit.”

    I guess CotA won’t be best pleased with that comment.

    1. FlyingLobster27
      23rd July 2019, 18:28

      … or indeed any circuit @dave-f . We’ve been doing it wrong for 120 years!

      1. John Hugenholtz got it /so/ wrong.

  3. Looks just like sector 1 from Canada.

  4. Rendered… in GP3 ? (Crammonds classic)

    1. GP3 circuit! GP3 circuit! Aarghhhh!

  5. the first circuit that’s been designed from the ground up to be a great racing circuit

    I’m curious go know what he thinks motivated people to build all the current circuits round the world…

  6. One least interesting circuit designs i have ever seen. it has no character or flow and just steals bits from other circuits so has no identity of its own.

    it may be a circuit ‘designed for racing’ but that doesn’t make it a good circuit even if the racing ends up been fairly good. a good circuit offers a unique challenge, has its own character & feel with a bit of undulation and the best circuits also have a nice flow to them and from all i have seen of this it has none of these things.

    and if all future circuits are to be designed ‘around racing’ i guess they will all be very samey, gone are the days of each circuit been unique and interesting because now they are been designed around a target rather than the geography.

    1. Totally disagree!
      What makes good and close racing, I welcome.
      Do you mean this circuit is not being designed around it’s geography??
      If it’s any good? We’ll see, but it’s definately a unique circuit!

  7. They should only close off the roads 5 minutes before the start, the scooters and tuk tuks would probably have no problem dodging them but would scare the hell out of the drivers ;) (if you’ve ever tried crossing the roads in Vietnam you’ll know what I mean…)

    1. I went to Vietnam a few years ago. I know exactly what you mean, crossing the road in Hanoi was like gambling at a casino, I could lose everything (die) or win something (live). This would definitely be an entertaining (although very likely deadly for several) aspect to throw in. Some Tuk tuks would be airborn at some point.

  8. Looks interesting enough but why take the trouble to render in fake crowds? Do people have so little imagination that they would believe a rendering of a crowd less track would mean the real life race was going to be a commercial failure?

    1. @sloppysmusic Leaving the grandstands empty would probably have made these renders more realistic.

  9. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    23rd July 2019, 21:15

    Isn’t this the Canadian track? It looks just like it?

  10. “And off they go on the Napalm start/finish straight, towards the Agent Orange chicane and then full speed towards the Ho Chi Minh Glorious Victory lane and the Tunnel Rat pit area.”

  11. Neil (@neilosjames)
    24th July 2019, 0:53

    The renders make me think of a mixture of Sochi and the butchered remains of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

    Not a good first impression.

  12. “We don’t want all circuits to be the same. It’s incredibly boring if we had great racing circuits but they’re all exactly the same template.”

    Then why in the name of Pescara is this new venue 5.x kms long like every single post-2000 addition to the calendar with the sole exception of Baku (and odds are if the streets had allowed it there, it would’ve been 5.x kms)? You would think the very first way to make a circuit stand out is to make it shorter or longer than most of its competition, but noooo, can’t have Big E. Tilke not getting his five in (outdated references rule). This PR phrase irritates me like there’s no tomorrow and I even like the layout of the venue a lot so far.

  13. Great to have renderings showing grandstands etc but I want to know what parts (if any) will have general admission.

    I’ve never sat in a grandstand (other than in P1 or P2) because they’re not only stupidly expensive but usually so far from the track and cars that you just don’t get to experience the sound and feel of F1 racing.

    GA for me has always been a better view. Looking at the crosses they do to Marting Brundle during practice sessions shows why (although unfortunately us mug punters would never be allowed to get quite that close to the track)

    So give me some GA renderings and I’ll be happier. Might even put this one on my 2020 bucket list.

  14. Just bring back Turkey.

  15. There’s very little to offer apart from the marketing value. 90% of the locals won’t ever stand a chance to get to the circuit and experience the glamour of overpriced services, and the remaining upstarts will quickly get bored of it. This is going to be India 2.0, the Mickey Mouse track being the icing on the cake. But hey, Liberty will boost their ego with “bringing the product to the new markets” and “improving the overtaking statistics” , so the shareholders are going to be happy.

    It’s just never going to be like in Europe, get over it.

  16. From the renderings, it seems they already know locals won’t attend the race.

    1. @greg76: Spot on. The budget cap is only for the teams, not the attendees.

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