When was the track built?

Haitang Bay was created for the 2019 Sanya E-Prix rather than grown over decades like a permanent circuit. That gives it a very modern Formula E identity - part city showcase, part race venue, part tourism postcard. The layout was assembled around Haitang Bay's resort district on Hainan Island, using public roads, bridge sections and a temporary paddock area between major hotels. Even before the first race, organisers had to think carefully about the conditions. After track-surface problems at the previous Formula E round in Santiago, the Sanya roads were specially treated with a resin-and-sand mix to stop the hot tropical surface from breaking up. That little detail says a lot about the place: Haitang Bay looked glamorous, but it was never going to be easy.

When was its first race?

The venue's first race day came on March 23, 2019, when the new circuit hosted the Sanya E-Prix and its support programme. The headline Formula E race was won by Jean-Eric Vergne for DS Techeetah after a dramatic afternoon that included contact, a red flag and a late finish under full-course yellow conditions. It was the first and, so far, only world-championship race held at Haitang Bay, which gives the circuit a short history but a memorable one.

What's the circuit like?

• Classic Formula E shape: Haitang Bay is short, narrow enough to punish mistakes and packed with the kind of stop-start corners that reward late braking, strong regeneration and clean traction off slow exits.
• Two proper passing zones: Turn 5 and Turn 8 are the headline hairpins. Both sit at the end of meaningful straights, both invite late moves, and both can punish drivers who over-commit and compromise the exit.
• Bridge straights give it a unique flow: The run across Fengtang Road and over the bridge sections makes the lap feel more open than its distance suggests. That contrast between broad straights and tight braking corners is where most of the racecraft comes from.
• Turn 3 matters more than it looks: It is not the fastest or most dramatic corner, but with the Attack Mode activation on the outside and the next phase of the lap opening immediately after, it is a strategic point as well as a driving one.
• Heat and humidity change the challenge: Sanya is hot, sticky and hard on concentration. Battery management, tyre temperature and simple cockpit workload all become bigger factors when the tropical weather turns the race into a sweatbox.
• Surface grip is part of the story: With new tarmac, older road sections and temporary preparation work, grip can evolve quickly through the weekend. On a Formula E street circuit that often means the fast line gets better session by session while the dusty offline sections stay risky.
• Final sector is easy to get wrong: The chicane at Turn 10 and the final hairpin at Turn 11 create one last chance to attack, but they also decide the whole run back to the line. A poor exit there leaves you vulnerable immediately.

Lap records and benchmarks

• Formula E - official race lap (2.236 km): 1:09.965 - Jean-Eric Vergne - DS E-Tense FE 19 - 2019.
• Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy - official race lap: 1:28.357 - Bryan Sellers - Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy - 2019.
• Formula E - qualifying reference: Oliver Rowland took pole for the 2019 Sanya E-Prix, underlining how much one-lap precision mattered on such a short and evolving circuit.
• Context: Because Haitang Bay only hosted one race weekend in its original form, the official record book is brief. That makes every benchmark here feel unusually important.
• Why the numbers matter: On a 2.236 km street lap, small mistakes are magnified. Losing momentum out of one hairpin can hurt all the way to the next major braking zone.

Formula E announced Sanya's return for 2026, but with minor circuit modifications expected, any future benchmarks may need to be treated separately from the original 2019 layout.

Why go?

Haitang Bay is the sort of race trip that doubles as a holiday without even trying. You get a waterfront Formula E setting, palm trees and resort hotels all around the circuit, then beaches and warm weather once the on-track action pauses. For fans planning to attend, that is a huge part of the appeal. It is not a remote industrial venue where you watch racing and leave. It is a destination. The other draw is the circuit's atmosphere on race weekend - tight street-track action, electric-car urgency, and the feeling that the whole event is happening inside a tropical postcard. If Sanya stays on the calendar, Haitang Bay has the ingredients to become one of Formula E's most distinctive travel weekends.

Where's the best place to watch?

• Turn 5 hairpin: The best all-round overtaking spot. Cars arrive off the earlier acceleration zone and have to slow the car properly for the tight left, so it is ideal for late-braking moves and switchbacks.
• Turn 8 hairpin: Another prime passing zone, this time after the long bridge straight. If you want to watch drivers attack the brakes at the end of the fastest section, this is the place.
• Turn 3 and the Attack Mode area: A smart tactical viewing point, especially in Formula E. You can watch drivers balance race position against energy strategy while still trying to protect the inside line.
• Turn 10 chicane into Turn 11: Great for seeing who keeps the car tidy through the final technical section and who gives away the run back to the start-finish line.
• Bridge-side straights: Best for appreciating the visual identity of the circuit itself - cars charging over the bridge with the resort skyline and bay atmosphere in the background.

Not just one series - headline events at Haitang Bay Circuit

Formula E: The Sanya E-Prix gave Haitang Bay its place on the global map in 2019, and Formula E has since confirmed a return to Sanya for the 2025-26 season, bringing the circuit back into the championship story after a long break.

Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy: Formula E's former support series also raced at Haitang Bay in 2019, adding a second all-electric category and helping establish the venue as an EV-focused street-racing stage rather than a one-race curiosity.

The bigger picture: Haitang Bay does not have the multi-decade, multi-series history of older tracks, but that is part of its character. Its reputation is tied to modern electric racing, tropical conditions and a layout built to create overtakes and visual drama in a compact space.