Vietnam will be added to the Formula 1 calendar in 2020, with the city of Hanoi hosting the country's first ever Grand Prix in twelve months' time.

The venue for the race will be centered around Hanoi's My Dinh stadium and follow a 5.56km street circuit drafted by the design office of F1's resident architect Hermann Tilke.

About two-thirds of the track will follow public roads while the remaining third will be purposefully built for F1. The circuit will also feature a dedicated and permanent pit complex designed especially for the event.

Carsten Tilke, the son of Hermann Tilke and the CEO of Tike GmbH & Co KG who has been involved in the planning of Hanoi's street circuit, provides a description of the future layout.

"The first section reminds me of the Mercedes Arena at the Nürburgring," said the German, speaking exclusively to Motorsport-Magazin.

"Also, the track has very varied passages with high-speed turns, modeled to some extent on the Esses at Suzuka, and long straights that provide good overtaking opportunities with hard braking points.

"Overall, it is a very challenging track, on which to race and will certainly produce plenty of racing action. It will not be easy to post a perfect lap on this track."

Thanks to simulation software technology used by Tike's design office, the track can be seen from the perspective of a virtual onboard view, and laps can be studied from every angle.

Check out the onboard video of the future Hanoi street circuit supplied courtesy of Motorsport-Magazin.

Honda will introduce its first upgraded engine of the 2019 Formula 1 season at this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, following the discovery of a quality control problem.

The Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly, and the two Toro Rossos, will have use of a new combustion engine in Baku. Honda has described the main benefits of the upgraded V6 as “improved durability, life and better reliability” and “a slight improvement in performance”.

Toro Rosso drivers Daniil Kvyat and Alexander Albon had only just moved on to their second engines of the season in China, Kvyat because of a problem discovered after the first practice session and Albon because of his heavy crash in final practice.

Honda’s investigation into Kvyat’s problem concluded that it was down to a “quality control issue”.
It said that is “one of the reasons” why it will fit what it's calling a ‘Spec 2’ engine to all four cars for Baku, the fourth race of the season.

The changes put Kvyat and Albon on the brink of penalties already, with the next new component triggering a grid drop. Drivers are allowed three combustion engines, turbos and MGU-Hs in a season, and two of the MGU-K, energy store and control electronics.

It was considered likely that Red Bull and Toro Rosso would need to exceed that limit and incur penalties this season, as Honda continues to develop in its bid to catch Mercedes and Ferrari.

Moving to a second set of components at race four effectively guarantees Verstappen and Gasly will need a fourth engine, at least, towards the end of the year.

F1’s benchmark engine manufacturers Ferrari and Mercedes traditionally wait until race seven in Canada to introduce their first upgrade of the season.

But Baku is a high-speed circuit that stresses the combustion engine and the energy recovery systems of the turbocharged power units. This could also have contributed to Honda's decision to introduce a predominantly reliability-based upgrade earlier than normal.

Miami Grand Prix F1 race proposal switches to stadium circuit plan

By Charles Bradley
Published on Thursday April 25th 2019

The proposed Miami Grand Prix Formula 1 race looks set to switch location and layout.

Plans to run the proposed race around Biscayne Boulevard and Bayfront Park in the city's downtown area appear to have been scrapped in favour of a new venue adjacent to the Miami Dolphins stadium, according to the group led by the NFL team's owner.

In May 2017, Formula 1 owner Liberty joined forces with billionaire local businessman Stephen Ross in a joint effort to hold a Miami GP in 2019 - but the planned 10-year deal has been repeatedly delayed.Miami hosted a Fan Festival last year on Biscayne Boulevard, featuring F1 show runs on the streets that have previously hosted IndyCar, IMSA and Formula E races.

But plans for a full-blown F1 event to run on the streets and the adjacent Port Miami area stalled in City Hall due to opposition from local residents and businesses, and the likelihood of multiple law suits over the disruption the event would cause.

Most recently a vote on the proposed downtown event was deferred in City Hall again last month, and this appears to have been the final straw for the plan.

Now Ross and his team have switched focus to a site near the Hard Rock Stadium venue in Miami Gardens, a 65,000-seat venue to the north of the city that will play host to the 2020 Super Bowl.

It hopes to create a "world-class racing circuit" in the land surrounding the stadium, and recently hosted the Miami Open tennis tournament for the first time.

Former Chip Ganassi Racing executive Tom Garfinkel, now vice chairman and CEO of Miami Dolphins and the stadium, told the Miami Herald that the disruption caused by a downtown event would negate the benefits to the city.

"We want to do something great for Miami," said Garfinkel. "But unfortunately when we finally received the detailed report of what it would take to build out a street circuit each year, the multiple weeks of traffic and construction disruption to the port, Bayfront Park and the residents and businesses on Biscayne Boulevard would have been significant; which Steve and I felt defeated the purpose.

"A lot would have to happen for us to be able to do it, but we have over 250 acres of land so adding an F1 race to where Hard Rock Stadium and the Miami Open sit means we can create a world-class racing circuit that is unencumbered by existing infrastructure.

"It also means better ingress and egress, better amenities, unprecedented sight-lines, and opportunities for the best hospitality anywhere in racing.

"We only want to do it if we can create world-class racing, a great fan experience, and a lot of value for Miami."

2019 has not been a happy year for Williams so far – and the team had their woe added to in Free Practice 1 at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, when a loose drain cover caused damage to George Russell’s FW42 that meant he would require a new chassis.

With just over 10 minutes of the first session of the weekend gone, Russell was powering down the straight towards Turn 3 at the Baku City Circuit when his Williams struck a drain cover that had been lifted by Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.

Russell drove over the cover, with the impact causing significant underfloor damage to the FW42 – with Williams later confirming that they would need to change the Briton’s chassis, meaning he wouldn’t be able to run in Free Practice 2.

“George’s car will require a chassis change due to the damage caused by the loose drain cover,” Williams said in a statement. “Therefore due to regulations he will not be able to run until FP3 tomorrow.”

Both the reduced track time and logistical challenge of preparing a new chassis for Russell will be yet more unwelcome news for Williams, with the team’s cars having qualified over 3.7 seconds off the pace on average across the first three races of the year so far.