Officials for the new Vietnam Grand Prix have confirmed they too are tracking the impact of the Coronavirus currently impacting China.
The bug is continuing to spread with over 17,300 cases now reported and over 360 deaths, including the first outside of China in the Phillippines on Sunday.
So far eight cases have been found in Vietnam but with the first Formula 1 race set for April 5, organisers are at this point hopeful the event can go ahead.
“We are actively monitoring the situation as it develops,” a statement given to RaceFans said.
“For now we don’t anticipate any significant impact on our April event. We will continue to work with our relevant authorities to closely monitor the situation.”
Complicating the situation, however, is RaceFans also claims Vietnamese organisers are hoping to see a 50/50 split of spectators for the Grand Prix at the newly-built street circuit in Hanoi.
Already, the Coronavirus has claimed one major motorsport race after Formula E’s Sanya ePrix, originally scheduled for March 21, was postponed this past weekend.
That decision has raised expectations that the F1 race, in the much more populated hub of Shanghai, will face on a similar fate and according to Speed Week, efforts to reschedule are already underway.
The Red Bull-owned publication claimed a potential date swap with the Russian Grand Prix, set for September 27, is a possibility, though officials in Sochi have denied any request has been made.
Another option is to delay until a week later, resulting in a triple-header consisting of Russia, China and Japan.
While logistically it would make sense, getting teams on side for three straight weekends of flyaway races might be much harder.
The last time the FIA tried to reschedule an F1 race was the 2011 Bahrain GP, which was cancelled after the Arab Spring protests hit the country.
A later date though was never found.
