![\" \u00a9](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Chase-Carey-Jean-Todt.jpg\")
<\/p>\n5 April 2020 was meant to mark a landmark moment for Formula 1. A brand-new destination, a spectacular street circuit in Hanoi, and the sport’s continued push into emerging markets were all set to converge at the inaugural Vietnamese Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
Instead, the 5.613-kilometre Hanoi Street Circuit stood silent \u2014 what should have been a historic debut became one of the most unusual and ill-fated chapters in modern F1 history.<\/p>\n
Announced in 2018 as part of a multi-year agreement, the Vietnamese Grand Prix was a centrepiece of Formula 1’s expansion under Liberty Media.<\/p>\n
It was, in fact, the first entirely new destination secured in that era \u2014 symbolic of a broader ambition to take the sport beyond its traditional heartlands.<\/p>\n
F1 chairman Chase Carey captured that vision at the launch: “We are delighted to announce that Hanoi will host a Formula 1 Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
“Since we became involved in this sport in 2017, we have talked about developing new destination cities\u2026 and the Vietnamese Grand Prix is a realisation of that ambition.”<\/p>\n
By early 2020, that ambition had become reality. The circuit, designed by Hermann Tilke at a reported cost of $600 million, was complete.<\/p>\n
A hybrid layout combining public roads and permanent infrastructure, it featured 23 corners and a 1.5km straight where cars were expected to reach over 330 km\/h. Its design even paid homage to iconic tracks \u2014 echoing the Nurburgring’s opening sequence, Monaco’s flowing middle sector, Suzuka’s Esses, and Sepang’s fast final turns.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tCOVID-19 postponement<\/p>\n
Everything was in place. Then the world changed.<\/p>\n
As the COVID-19 pandemic escalated in March 2020, Formula 1’s calendar began to collapse.<\/p>\n
The season-opening Australian Grand Prix was cancelled, and a domino effect followed. The Vietnamese Grand Prix, scheduled for 5 April, was initially postponed as the sport scrambled to respond.<\/p>\n
FIA President Jean Todt was unequivocal at the time: “Protecting people first\u2026 was the only possible decision given all of the information currently available to us.”<\/p>\n
For a while, there was still hope. Vietnam had managed early outbreaks relatively well, and organisers explored the possibility of rescheduling later in the year.<\/p>\n
But the logistical complexity of Formula 1 \u2014 global travel, freight, and personnel \u2014 made such plans increasingly unrealistic.<\/p>\n
By October 2020, the race was officially cancelled. Promoter CEO Le Ngoc Chi confirmed: “We are unable to welcome the most exciting and prestigious motorsport series on the planet to Vietnam in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”<\/p>\n
At that stage, Vietnam appeared to be another casualty of a disrupted season \u2014 one that would eventually be reduced from 22 planned races to just 17. But the deeper story was only just beginning.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\t\u00a9 XPBimages<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tPolitical corruption<\/p>\n
Behind the scenes, a more serious issue was unfolding \u2014 one that would ultimately seal the fate of the Vietnamese Grand Prix altogether.<\/p>\n
In August 2020, Hanoi People\u2019s Committee Chairman Nguy\u1ec5n \u0110\u1ee9c Chung, one of the key figures behind bringing Formula 1 to the city, was arrested on corruption-related charges unrelated to the race.<\/p>\n
Chung had been instrumental in securing the event, negotiating its foundations, and championing its economic potential.<\/p>\n
His arrest created immediate uncertainty. Without his backing, the project lost its political anchor, and momentum quickly stalled.<\/p>\n
The consequences were swift. The Vietnamese Grand Prix was dropped from the provisional 2021 Formula 1 calendar, and it soon became clear the event would not return. While other races postponed in 2020 found their way back, Hanoi did not.<\/p>\n
Chung’s legal troubles deepened in the years that followed, culminating in a ten-year prison sentence in 2022. By then, any realistic hope of reviving the race had vanished.<\/p>\n
What remains today is a striking symbol of what might have been. The Hanoi circuit \u2014 once poised to host Formula 1’s newest spectacle \u2014 has seen only limited use.<\/p>\n
Large sections lie dormant, its grandstands and sweeping corners a reminder of a project years in the making that never hosted a single competitive lap.<\/p>\n
A combination of global disruption and local instability created a perfect storm. The pandemic may have delayed the race, but it was political fallout that ultimately ensured it would never happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"5 April 2020 was meant to mark a landmark moment for Formula 1. A brand-new destination, a spectacular…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,827,830,828,831,829,826,813,823,825,806,805,824,803,804,822,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-587374","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-daniel-ricciardo","11":"tag-f1-calendar","12":"tag-f1-live","13":"tag-f1-results","14":"tag-f1-standings","15":"tag-ferrari","16":"tag-formula-1","17":"tag-lewis-hamilton","18":"tag-max-verstappen","19":"tag-motor","20":"tag-motor-sports","21":"tag-motorsport","22":"tag-motosport","23":"tag-motosports","24":"tag-racing","25":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}