Hanoi to spare 217 acres for Formula One circuit

By Vo Hai   March 5, 2019 | 04:51 am PT
Hanoi to spare 217 acres for Formula One circuit
An F1 racing car is presented in Hanoi in November 2018. Photo by VnExpress/Vo Hai
Vietnam’s capital city has completed a detailed plan for hosting the nation’s first ever Formula One (F1) race next year.

More than 88 hectares, or 217 acres, the size of around 80 FIFA football fields, around the My Dinh National Stadium in outlying district of Nam Tu Liem will be used to build the circuit, stands and a helipad for the F1 Vietnam Grand Prix.

The circuit will be 5.565km long, including the existing track of the stadium plus a newly-built 1.5 km section.

The city will keep the existing functional area of the stadium for the stands and area for organizers.

Items that need to be built include a helipad, an operating room, a three-storey pit building for watching the race from above, a racetrack overpass, a broadcasting center, a medical center, a warehouse, and a car park.

As par the plan, the circuit will be used as a regular road after the race.

In December last year, Hanoi had said it will spend VND640 billion ($27.5 million) on infrastructure construction near the circuit for its inaugural Formula 1 race in 2020, including work to fill up channels and widen roads.

Authorities in Nam Tu Liem District have already demolished dozens of shops near the My Dinh Stadium's left wing to build stands for race spectators.

It was announced last November that Vietnam would become the third Southeast Asian nation to host an F1 race after Malaysia and Singapore.

The first race will be held in April 2020, with ticket prices declared in April 2019, it was said.

The capital city expects to earn revenue from ticket sales, advertisements, side events, merchandising and broadcasting rights, among other things.

The event will be organized by Vingroup, Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate.

Besides the main race, which will take around four hours, there will be parades and exhibitions, organizers have said.

The FIA Formula One World Championship, or Formula 1, is an international single-seater auto racing competition sanctioned by the International Automobile Federation (FIA). It has been one of the most popular forms of racing around the world since its inaugural season in 1950.

Each season of Formula 1 consists of a series of races held worldwide on purpose-built circuits as well as public roads. Out of the 21 races in this year's season, six will be hosted in Asia - Bahrain, China, Japan, Macau, Malaysia and Singapore.

 
 
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