GLOOMY FUTURE
Vietnam inked a 10-year deal with Formula 1 in 2018, betting that the glamour of the sport could reshape Hanoi’s staid image, and reflect the country’s economic liftoff.
Costing Vietnam US$60 million a year, the fee was to be picked up in full by the country’s largest private conglomerate, VinGroup, which had been hoping to dazzle with a night race.
But after the 2020 cancellation, the race was dropped from the 2021 global calendar when city mayor Nguyen Duc Chung, a major supporter of the Grand Prix, was arrested.
Chung was sentenced to 10 years in jail on corruption charges.
“Without Chung, the future of the race in Hanoi is gloomy,” a source close to the race told AFP on condition of anonymity in 2020.
State media said city authorities in June last year ruled out hosting the race between 2022 and 2029.
Authorities, however, refused to confirm the news to AFP.
Hanoi was absent again from the 2023 race schedule announced last month.
Two-and-a-half years after the first race should have been staged, there is still disappointment among the country’s small but growing F1 fanbase.
“It would have been my first opportunity to see the drivers, the F1 cars, the racing teams in real life … and I wanted to feel what it was like to sit next to an F1 circuit,” said 23-year-old Bui Viet Giang.
“I am sorry that it will not happen. I do hope it can be organised again in the future.”
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