Everything You Need To Know About The Great Indian Grand Prix

Nearly 70 days before the first ever Grand Prix event for the Indian Formula One enthusiasts, the excitement has started to build with the unveiling of the title sponsor of the race as “Bharti Airtel”.

Bernie Ecclestone was assured that the track will be ready in time and was quoted saying:

“It will be one of the nicest circuits and will complete in time. People are there, checking everything on daily basis. It will be in good shape.”

This does eliminate the fear of another Commonwealth Games catastrophe which did put the event on a back foot. But assurances like these do have a positive impact towards kick starting a high profile event like this.

Bernie also assured that the Jaypee Group has been doing very well to keep things on track and also that there will not be a repeat of another South Korean Grand Prix.

The Buddh International Circuit is getting ready to be set blazed by the Formula one cars pretty soon and more than a million people are expected to witness this extravagant melee at the circuit.

FIA are targeting India big time and do want to capture a wide share of market very soon. In view of the huge amount of young population amongst which the game is popular even the FIA gala event is being held in New Delhi this year. The long term plans were confirmed by the fact that the Indian Grand Prix has been confirmed for 2012 and also with the announcement of the three year deal by Bernie Ecclestone.

Bernie Ecclestone when asked about the future of Formula one in India said

“F1 is new to India. It would take efforts to generate interest. We will never catch cricket but we can get close to…perhaps with extra effort.”

According to www.formula1blog.com; it is estimated that nearly 30 percentage of the attendees will be foreigners and that it will take time for India to embrace this new adventure of speed and technology.

But the attendance of Indians at various Formula One races mainly in Asian circuits is very overwhelming. There has been decent presence of Indian Formula one fans at the races held at Sepang, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Japan etc. and even in the European ones also.

The FIA inspection of the track is scheduled on September 1^st, giving enough time to give the finishing touches to the nearly completed track. The FIA-appointed German consultants who are camped at the track advised the promoters to lay the final layer some 45 days before the event. After that, as a dry run, a round of the JK Tyre National Racing Championship will be held to check the operation of the track.

As my friends Anirudh and Akhilesh, avid formula one fanatics who went to check on how the tack has been shaping say that the track is almost complete with the Grand Stands looking magnificent and rest of the stands also being put in place. They also have the pleasure to enjoy the spectacular view from their high rise flat in Noida from where in the night they can see the track illuminated by a 100 thousand light bulbs.

In a drive to popularize the sport in other regions than the existing popular areas like Europe, Asia has been the biggest target for Bernie. And in what was a proposed 2012 calendar there were 8 European races and 8 Asian races. India and China are two of the biggest markets in Asia or rather the world itself. China has already been hosting this annual event and now its India’s turn to do so.

Bernie Ecclestone says

“India is one of the top 5 countries, it’s a major part of the world and we wanted a championship here. When I came here, I was pleased (with what I saw). Things will be fine. In the end we will do good things for India.”

Sanjay Kapoor, CEO – India and South Asia, Bharti Airtel, said there was a lot of merit in having an association with the world’s most popular motorsport event. He said:

“Such events do not come cheap. We see value in this in investment. We met five-six months back and meeting of the minds happened at first time. F1 is a sports and Airtel is a brand. Both resonate well in the contemporary markets.”

The $215 million circuit with a track length of 5.137km is located in Greater Noida along the Noida – New Delhi expressway and is about an hour drive from the capital city.

The inclusion of India in the 2011 Formula One calendar has already started having its effect. Machdar Motorsports has already announced the I1 Super Series which is yet to get the approval of FIA and plan to organize in the month of December. It plans to organize seven races with teams from nine Indian cities. For a better appeal the nation’s sporting god “Sachin Tendulkar” has been unveiled as the brand ambassador for the event. The Chief of Machdar Motorsports expects that interest will be shown by major celebrities and they come up to own some franchises. This would give a huge boost to this sport in India.

India already has representation in the form of Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok in the Formula One circuit. Even Vijay Mallya owned Force India has been doing well of late. There will be plenty to cheer for the Indian fans even amidst reports that Karun and Narain might not be racing in the Indian Grand Prix. Force India would be treating this equal to their home circuit and will get a lot of backing from the Indian crowd. The crowd would also love to get a glimpse of the seven time world champion Michael Schumacher and also other favorite celebrities. Most importantly the Vroom of the engines of the racing cars will get them going.

Karun Chandhok’s father Vicky Chandhok who is also a well-known businessman and is also the chief of motor sports in India has also expressed his joy over the recent developments of the track. When asked about popularity of the sport in India Chandhok said:

“There has been huge interest in F1 for many years, so the fan base is already there. Last year’s Monaco Grand Prix was watched by 27 million people in India – that’s more than the TV figures for the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy combined.”

Sameer Gaur, the managing director and CEO of Jaypee Sports International announced that the sale of tickets would most probably start by the 20^th of August but a delay of two or three days can be expected. He also confirmed the fact that the tickets would start from a low range of Rs 2,500 for general admission and will reach a maximum cost per ticket of Rs 35,000 for the grandstands covering all three days.

tickets would start from a low range of Rs 2,500.. and .. maximum .. of Rs 35,000

The track has also been facing some opposition from the farmers on whose land the track is being built. The Jaypee Group states that the land acquisition was done on a mutual consent basis and all the basic demands of the farmers were attended to but since then they have raised their demands and are threatening to stop the construction of the track. But they have assured the threat will not act as a hindrance to the track progress or the race progress and they can sort it out easily.

Another major thing that is being worked upon is the wide spread publicity of the sport in India. Even the Formula One racing teams and their sponsors are looking to cash in the unexplored and new market. Vodafone already started targeting the Indian audience since last year with Formula one. Airtel would now look to cash in after being unveiled as the title sponsor. Many other companies including Mercedes, Renault also have already started publicizing themselves during the race events. Red Bull also has been seen organizing many Formula One related events this year.

The 2011 event has already received a great bonus with one of the world’s best rock bands Metallica performing at the Friday night event to be held in Gurgaon.

Hopefully the 2011 Formula One grand prix generates more interest amongst the younger generation and may also be a career path that many youngsters start to take up.

As a Formula One enthusiast I alike many others am looking forward to hear the engines Vroom at Buddh International Circuit in the end of October. Keep checking the formula one official website for information regarding sale of tickets.

Note – The pictures of the circuit are not being uploaded as we have been strictly warned to do so when we were clicking the pictures amidst the security.