Oct 21, 2011
It’s time for yet another new venue on the Formula 1 calendar as the sport continues to expand to all four corners of the globe. Will it be a success, like Singapore for example, or will it fall by the wayside like some of the sport’s less successful attempts to chart new waters on the Good Ship Grand Prix? Only time will tell, but if India’s enthusiasm for sport in general is anything to go by, then the Indian Grand Prix could be a big hit. In the short term, it helps that there will be one Indian-owned team and at least one, or maybe two Indian drivers on the grid on Sunday, for the seventeenth round of the World Championship.
India does not have much of a history in motor racing and what it does have is mainly linked to rallying, however the country does boast a burgeoning motor industry and has moved away from simply continuing to produce vehicles that were essentially museum pieces from the British car manufacturers of the Fifties. The event has already generated huge publicity in its homeland, so hopefully the brand new grandstands will see a crowd of brand new F1 fans over the weekend.
The Buddh International circuit is built on a 2500 acre site in the Greater Noida suburb of Delhi and, like all modern venues, just building a race track is never enough, so this place will eventually feature a karting track, a golf course, a Cricket stadium and hockey pitches the latter two reflecting India’s historical sporting obsessions. The name “Buddh” comes from a word which means peace and calmness, two qualities not normally associated with Formula 1. The new circuit is going to present quite a challenge over the entire 5.14 kilometre lap, as it combines a mix of very slow and very fast sections, with several changes of gradient making for a rollercoaster ride.
When news of an Indian Grand Prix was first announced, there were concerned about the weather, but October is just about the perfect time given that temperatures over race week are only just going to nudge the 30° mark with no rain forecast.
This might be the era of simulation and calculation in Formula 1, but as we have seen at new circuits recently, it’s impossible to really what to expect until you get to a new venue. The track surface itself is likely to be one of the biggest unknown factors and, as always at a new venue, one can expect it to evolve in leaps and bounds with each session, as it gets its first ever layer of F1 rubber. Not only will it be very green on Friday, it is also likely to be dirty from last minute construction work and nearby industry. On the subject of rubber, Pirelli is bringing its Soft and Hard compounds, so it will be interesting to see how quickly the latter gets up to operating temperature. After a great weekend in Korea, Scuderia Toro Rosso will be hoping to continue the moving forward in performance terms, although we have to be realistic and accept that our performance has to be judged against that of our nearest rivals, who will be equally keen to make up for a mediocre Mokpo weekend.
Credit: Scuderia Toro Rosso (www.scuderiatororosso.com)
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