Vietnam adds extra corner to F1 circuit

The tweak – in the final section of the Hanoi city track – will lift the total number of corners to 23 and increases the track length from the original 5.565km length to 5.607km. 

Le Ngoc Chi, CEO of the Vietnam Grand Prix Corporation, said the change had been made at the request of the FIA and F1.

"We have changed a little bit on Turns 22 and 23," she told Motorsport.com. "It's a street circuit and you have to adjust it to the actual geographical conditions of the area, and make sure that it meets with every single requirement of the FIA and F1.

"We have worked very closely with FIA and F1 to make sure that everything we do ensures perfect safety for the drivers, as well as still create all the exciting turns that allows the drivers to showcase their skills.

"The new [layout] shape will be out very soon, and everyone will see that the change is little, but it adds another turn to the circuit and it is not too much different. But it's safe, and that's the most important thing."

Building is well underway at the new Hanoi venue, as these exclusive photographs show, with the current focus on getting the track surface complete. Chi confirmed that everything was on schedule.

"We are we completely on track and the progress that we made is very nice," she said. "The circuit will be done by the end of this year.

"Part of it is on existing streets and the other part has been built from scratch – and all the newly built part is already done.

"On both parts we are now doing the asphalt. There are many layers to it and we are expecting to get it completely done by the end of this year. Once we get that done, we will start with the overlay.

"That gives us about three months for the overlay to be done from January to the end of March. It sounds like that's a lot of time for any track to do the overlay, but we want to have that buffer and we cannot allow any delay. It has to get done. So three months to us is the right amount of time."

Vietnam is due to hold its first F1 race on April 5 next year.

Hanoi F1 circuit work in progress

Photo by: Sports Marketing Group