Unofficial Indian Grand Prix Site

Its been a while since you got an update here, got an interesting topic to talk about here. The most challenging highways in America. I recent went to the States, drove around too, definitely the most fun I had driving was on the state and national highways. The state highways for their beauty and the national highways for the amazing speeds you run up there.

I drove my brother’s car in the US along a great many highways, but unfortunately on none of the below ,well there is always next time, till then enjoy the list and if you are nearby, take your AWD for an adventure.

Via: Suzuki

Here are a few photos which describe whats happening at the Indian Grand Prix circuit. In the 1st free practice Lewis Hamilton was fastest with current world champion Sebastien Vettel not far behind. In the second practice Massa took the lead edging Vettel once again.

Good news for all the fans waiting for formula one tickets for the Indian Grand Prix to be released. In a function to be held at the Jaypee reens Hotel (by invitation only), the Indian Grand Prix formula one tickets are going to be revealed. We hope you are excited, as we sure are.

Amid much criticism, the Bahrain Grand Prix has been removed from the formula one calendar and the Indian Grand Prix is back on the 30th of October.

Still no ticket sales though, BookMyShow, the official ticketing partners for the Indian Grand Prix have assured that the ticket management would be top class and they are just waiting for a go-ahead from the event organizers (the Jaypee group).

Reacting to concerns on the ticketing , Ashish Hemrajani, CEO of Big  Tree Entertainment was quoted as saying to a major Indian daily:

"You’d never face that kind of problem here,"

"That’s really our strength ; excellent customer support, a robust system and the focus on technology.

"It’s all about technology. If you know that you are going to get that kind of traffic, you have to learn to manage it. We will ensure anything like that does not happen.

"We do ticketing for events, concerts, plays. In the Indian Premier League  we do it for Mumbai, Delhi, Punjab and Rajasthan.

"Even in IPL, there was tremendous rush but nothing went wrong. We are used to handling it. Our system works seamlessly." Hemrajani said

In a move that is likely to derive some moans from Indian formula one fans, the FIA has decided to postpone the inaugural Indian Grand Prix to the end of the formula one 2011 season to accommodate the Bahrain Grand Prix. The earlier 2011 Indian Grand Prix was slated to be held on 30 October 2011.

Formula One fans will remember that the Bahrain Grand Prix had been cancelled following pro-democracy protests in the country and the subsequent violent crackdown on protestors. The situation has changed since then with the protests being crushed by the ruling monarch.

A statement by Vicky Chandhok over the fate of the Indian Grand Prix read :

"FIA has not yet confirmed the final date for the race but the most likely date is December 11,"

The website of the FIA is already updated and shows India as the final race in the formula one circus. Also the formula one awards gala night would be probably held after the weekend in Delhi prompting criticism from many people about stretching the season and the weekend’s activities.

Its good news for the millions of formula one fans in India and also people who just end up everywhere no matter what the event is. The formula one circus is all set to land in India for the 2011 season. The race is scheduled for October 30 2011 and the buzz is already starting to grow. The company responsible for the Indian Grand Prix in India has already started talking about tickets.

The October 30 event will have 3 days of tickets, the first day would be practice sessions, the second day would be more practice and qualifying while Sunday i.e. October 30 would be the raceday. A leading Indian daily reported a Jaypee Sports official saying :

“We will open online booking for the event within a month. The ticket prices will also be fixed soon,” a spokesperson for Jaypee Sports said.

“Ticket slabs are likely to ensure entry for students as well as corporate entities, as we want to attract racing enthusiasts from every strata of the society.”

So it seems that ticket pricing will vary from cattle class to obscenely expensive , still trying to get some media passes for the event. F1chronicles.com is arguably India’s largest formula one blog and we will be proudly reporting from the grand stands, media passes or not.

In what will definitely be a setback to the suppoters of the Indian grand prix, Indian GP boss Mark Hughes has called it quits and has left the Jaypee backed company which is incharge of the track which is being constructed to hold the maiden Indian Grand Prix this year (2011) in October.

The Jaypee Group confirmed the departure of Mark Hughes, the reason given for his deaprture from the Group was ‘due to Personal Reasons’. However is rumour-ville is to be believed Mark Hughes left to join the Abu Dhabi GP. Hughes himself confirmed the news saying that he was working with the Abu Dhabi GP but he is still associated with Jaypee and advising on the Indian Grand Prix event.

Meanwhile the Jaypee group announced the replacement for Mark Hughes as Azhar Ghazili who has previous experience with the formula one race at Malaysia.

"Mr Ghazali is a very capable man and he’s more than making up for Mr Hughes’s absence," the company remarked.

We sure hope so !

India is slowly emerging as a powerful force in the F1 arena, the world body FIA recognizes the economic might of India and is therefore keen to tap into the market here. Apart from the Indian Grand Prix that is scheduled for 2011 subject to track clearance, the FIA has decided to hold the FIA awards ceremony for the 2011 season (referred to as the formula one gala night) in India next year.

Comparisons are already being made about the significance of this move. New Delhi will be the first Asian city to host these awards and has been chosen above a lot of more popular choices like Monte Carlo, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur etc. The ceremony is meant to honour World Champions in Formula One, World Rally Championship, Karting and Touring Car. The 2010 ceremony took place in Monte Carlo where Sebastien Vettel was given the championship trophy.

FMSCI president KD Madan was as expected happy with the news :

"This is a defining moment for Indian motorsport. First the Indian GP and now the awards taking place in India. It is a clear indication that India is now well and truly on the world map even in the motorsport world!

"We could not have imagined this couple of years ago but the FMSCI has been working really hard to make motorsports one of the top sports in the country. To be the first country in Asia to host the FIA Annual awards speaks volumes of how Indian motorsport is seen by global audiences.

The Indian Grand Prix is about an year away and the organisers are leaving no stone unturned to ensure a successful culmination of the event. The event is scheduled to be held at a venue in the NCR region in one of the several townships being developed by the Jaypee Group. The subsidiary JPSK sports will be handling the construction and other issues related to the Indian Grand Prix.

Mark Hughes who is heading the operation for the JPSK group was quoted as saying :

"We are looking at the range of tickets for the high end of cricket games, the international test matches, the IPL games,"

"We are looking at the ticketing for the Commonwealth Games and we are also looking at the other races and trying to find a balance.

"There will be a reasonably affordable general admission and there will probably be about 25,000 general tickets. I’d like to think that we can make it affordable in the same way that Malaysia did – Malaysia have a very good, affordable entry ticket price."

"We will have things like built-in underground scanners, so when a car drives in every vehicle will get scanned,"

"At the same time, we will look at how we integrate that with the CCTV systems.

"We will have a reasonably sophisticated ticketing system that will be very difficult to forge. There will be a turnstile system at every entrance, every ticket will be electronic. Security will be ramped up, it has to be." he added

I will be hoping to get some paddock passes for the event , lets see if I can put my resourcefulness to the best use.

Bernie Ecclestone last week while confirming that the 2011 formula one season shall have 20 F1 races announced that the season would also host the inaugural Indian Grand Prix and the Korean Grand Prix. The interesting bit is that Bernie Ecclestone while making the announcement declined to say that there would be a drop in European races in the 2011 season.

Meanwhile Indian racer Narain Karthikeyan (1st Indian ever to race in formula one) confirmed his desire to race in the 1st ever edition of the Indian Grand Prix. On being conferred the Padmashree he replied to questions about whether he would like to participate in the Indian Grand Prix, he replied that he would race if he gets a good team.