F1 track that cost £540m was abandoned before staging a Grand Prix and is now completely overgrown
A Formula 1 track that reportedly cost over £500 million to construct was abandoned before it even held a single Grand Prix.
The 2025 season promises to be one of the greatest campaigns of all time, with 24 Grands Prix and six Sprint events held around the world.
Stars such as Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will be looking to get their hands on the world title.
Looking ahead, it has been claimed that more countries are throwing their names in the hat to host an F1 race.
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The likes of Thailand, Argentina and South Africa have all been linked with hosting an F1 race in the future.
Back in 2020, F1 was meant to be held in Hanoi, Vietnam, with the permanent section of the Hanoi Circuit completed in February with the race scheduled to be held on April 5.
The Hanoi Circuit spanned 5.613 kilometres and featured a mix of public roads and a purpose-built section, which would have been opened to the public. There were 23 turns in total and it also had one of the longest straights on the F1 calendar.
Initially, it was suggested the track cost around $600 million (£540 million) to build, with the renowned Herman Tilke responsible for the design.
However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Vietnamese Grand Prix was called off, causing significant changes to that year's race calendar.
At the time, it was suggested that a plan was still in place for Hanoi to host a Grand Prix in 2021.
👀 🎥 🇻🇳
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 3, 2020
The Hanoi Street Circuit is looking 👌 as construction continues ahead of the Vietnam Grand Prix #F1 pic.twitter.com/pnwrNxzG1E
In November 2020, there was a huge blow to Vietnam's hopes of hosting an F1 race after city mayor Nguyen Duc Chung was arrested on corruption charges unrelated to the Grand Prix and sentenced to five years in prison.
It was reported that Chung, who played a key role in Vietnam's Grand Prix master plan, was convicted and sentenced after a four-hour closed trial in Hanoi. Reuters added that he pled guilty at the start of the trial.
He was convicted for two other separate charges in the summer of 2022, meaning a jail sentence of 10 years.
Up until weeks before Chung's arrest, government sources reportedly believed there was a possibility that the Vietnamese Grand Prix could still take place in 2020.
But the race was kept off the 2021 calendar in light of the corruption controversy, and has rarely been mentioned since.
In 2022, the Hanoi Circuit was pictured with overgrown greenery around the place, which could indicate that the FIA have no plans to return to Vietnam in the near future.
Marcus Chan