Vietnam rumoured to postpose Hanoi F1 Grand Prix

March 12, 2020 | 10:27

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Several news agencies have been reposting a Tweet showing information that the Hanoi leg of the F1 Grand Prix will be delayed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) gaining a growing foothold across the country.

vietnam rumoured to postpose hanoi f1 grand prix

Vietnam might postpone Hanoi's very first F1 Grand Prix

Accordingly, the text showed a screenshot of a message that read, "The meeting today of the F1 chairman with Hanoi City's authorities has confirmed the race will be a temporary delay. However, for the exact policy according to this Covid-19 problem, we will announce it to our customer from March 15th."

The Vietnam leg of the F1 races would be the third stop this season (April 3-5) following the Australian race opening this weekend and the Bahrain GP (March 20-22) that would take place without a live audience.

Earlier, the race in China (April 19) was postponed due to concerns about the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic.

"With the spread of the COVID-19 worldwide, welcoming a large audience and foreign visitors at the event is not advisable. Fans can follow the race on television," said the F1 organisers in Bahrain when announcing that the race would be held without an audience.

Meanwhile, chairman and CEO of the company holding the commercial exploitation rights to F1, Chase Carey, came to Vietnam and checked the F1 Hanoi racetrack which just been finished in late February. Following the site visit, Carey had a meeting with leaders of Hanoi People's Committee but the content of the meeting has yet been officially announced.

Whether the organisation of the F1 race in Hanoi in 2020 will proceed as planned or not will depend a great deal on the opinion of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).

So far, Vietnam has recorded 39 cases positive to COVID-19, 16 of whom have made full recovery.