Rumor: Vietnamese Grand Prix may make 2024 F1 Calendar (4th Update)

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Hearing reports that the likelihood of a Hanoi, Vietnam race making the 2024 calendar has diminished.

There are no Vietnamese drivers in F1 so what would be the attraction for Vietnamese race fans (for which there are few) to shell out a lot of money for an F1 race ticket?

Unless the government wants to use F1 to help put Hanoi on the ‘world stage’ and are willing to sign a long-term commitment, those in power question – does the race make much sense?

Never say never, but it’s looking less likely.

Take a lap around the Hanoi Circuit:

🇻🇳 Os dejamos la intro y la vuelta al circuito callejero de Hanoi, escenario donde se disputaría la carrera.

🎮 Renault R26 [F1 2020] pic.twitter.com/rifHoEaZol

— Fórmula Directa (@FormulaDirecta) April 9, 2023

–by Mark Cipolloni–

The Vietnamese GP, cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid, is now rumored to be back on the 2024 F1 Calendar.

Before arriving in Melbourne a small delegation from Liberty Media, led by Stefano Domenicali, stopped in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, for an important meeting with the highest officials of the city and the country.  Domenicali met with the President, the Prime Minister and the Mayor of Hanoi.

If they pay the $50 million per year sanction fee, the race may be on as the circuit, designed by Tilke, was completed and FIA certified.

(GMM) The final nail may have been hammered into the ill-fated Vietnam GP.

Organizers had fully prepared for the Hanoi street race’s inaugural event early last year when the pandemic struck.

Then, before F1’s 2021 calendar showed a blank race name with ‘TBA’ listed for April 25, Vietnam’s hopes sunk deeper when key official Nguyen Duc Chung was arrested on charges of stealing documents related to state secrets.

Tuoi Tre, a state-controlled newspaper, reports that Chung was convicted at the end of a closed four-hour trial on Friday and sentenced to five years in prison.

“Without Chung, the future of the Hanoi race is bleak,” a source close to the Vietnamese communist party politician told Agence France Presse news agency.

The German news agency SID, meanwhile, claims that grandstands have now been removed from alongside the Hanoi layout despite Vietnam having signed a ten-year race deal in 2018.

The Vietnamese Grand Prix has been dropped from the 2021 Formula 1 calendar, BBC Sport reports.

The date of the Vietnam race, 25 April, has been left blank on a 22-race 2021 schedule to be published on Tuesday.

The calendar could extend to 23 Grands Prix – a new record – if F1 can find a replacement for Vietnam.

Any replacement race would be at one of the tracks added to the calendar this year as a result of the pandemic, with Turkey, Italy’s Imola and Portugal’s Portimao the leading candidates.