Vietnam GP track will be “most technical on the calendar”

Mercedes simulator driver Esteban Gutierrez says the new Vietnamese Grand Prix circuit is set to host a section of track which is “the most technical on the calendar” after driving a virtual version of the Hanoi Street Circuit.

Following the postponement of the inaugural Vietnamese GP due to the coronavirus outbreak, the track remains a future venue for F1 to visit as it awaits a rescheduled slot on the reshuffled 2020 calendar.

With all F1 teams completing extensive simulator programmes with no representative data to rely on ahead of the race, carried out before it was called off, Mercedes has released a video with simulator driver Gutierrez taking fans through a lap of the Hanoi Street Circuit.

The 5.6km circuit sees lap times of approximately 1m 37s with three long straights punctuated by slow and technical corners.

But the section which stood out to Gutierrez was the final part with a combination of left and right handers emulating the Maggots and Becketts corner complex at Silverstone.

“The last section of the track and the most tricky part of the track. The Esses which, in my opinion, is the most technical section on the calendar,” Gutierrez said. “It is very, very fast and very important to get a very good line with a very minimal margin of error.”

The circuit, which was completed earlier this year in preparation for the first-ever Vietnamese GP originally scheduled for April 5, features a hybrid of public roads and purpose-built sections that would be open to the public after the race weekend.