Posted on Wednesday 02 Nov 2011
A minute’s silence was held before the start of this afternoon’s race in memory of fallen racers Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli. All of the F1 drivers gathered at the front of the grid and bowed their heads, until the silence was broken by the Indian National Anthem. At next weekend’s MotoGP finale in Valencia, something completely different is being planned: there will be a minute’s noise before the start of the race.
The success of the inaugural Indian Grand Prix is undeniable. More than 95,000 spectators turned up on race day; there was blanket coverage of the event in the national media and there were lots of local stars in attendance, from cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar (who waved the chequered flag) to Bollywood stars Gulshan Grover and Shahrukh Khan. The only slight downer was the lack of overtaking on-track. There were only six passes in the entire race – well below average for 2011.
HRT’s Narain Karthikeyan was the star of the show for many local fans, but Mark Webber came a close second on raceday after his antics on the drivers’ parade. The Aussie grabbed an Indian flag from a group of fans and waved it all the way around the lap. “I think they loved that,” said Mark.
As a gesture of goodwill, the teams donated their leftovers to the local community on Sunday evening. A truck advanced slowly down the middle of the paddock and catering staff threw in everything from packets of chips to bottles of beer. It was a brilliant new initiative – and extremely well received, we’re told – and AT&T Williams believes it should be carried out at all races.
Credit: at&t Williams F1 (www.williamsf1.com)
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