FIA President Jean Todt poses for a photograph during the ground-breaking ceremony for the 2020 Vietnam Grand Prix in Hanoi on March 20, 2019. [Photo/VCG]

HANOI - Construction of the Formula One (F1) car-racing course started on Wednesday in Vietnam's capital Hanoi and is scheduled to complete in March 2020.

Designed by the Formula One Group and Germany's Tilke company, the track will stretch nearly 5.6 km with part of it using existing roads, consisting of 22 turns inspired by the world's most famous circuits, the municipal authorities said on Wednesday.

In November 2018, Hanoi signed a 10-year contract with the F1 Group to host the car race starting from 2020, making Vietnam the third Southeast Asian country to host a F1 race, after Malaysia and Singapore.

F1 is the highest class of single-seater auto racing sanctioned by the International Automobile Federation. An F1 season consists of a series of races, which are held worldwide on purpose-built circuits and public roads.