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.

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.

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.

The Indian Grand Prix has always had a heavy backing from people like Bernie Ecclestone and Vijay Mallya. The sports ministry had tried to play spoilsport last year by refusing to recognise formula one as a sport and granting tax relief with respect to equipment imported for the same. The huge influx of tourists for the event though is expected to change things. The race organisers peg the turnout for the race at more than 1 lakh spectators, most of them from outside the country. Such a huge influx of foreign tourists and revenue will surely make the Government recognise the Indian Grand Prix as an event of National Importance.

“We fully expect the race to go ahead next October” Mark Hughes said.

“The circuit is part of a sports city being constructed 35 kilometres outside the Indian capital on a 2,800 acre site with areas set aside for the Formula One track and a 100,000-seater international cricket stadium,” Hughes added.

“Jaypee Group head Jaiprakash Gaur is passionate about sport and he has a dream to develop Indian youngsters with talent and prospects to progress,” Hughes added. “The sports hub is part of that dream.”

“We expect to complete construction by July 2011 and once the FIA has given its approval we can finalise training for marshals, track officials and medical staff in time for an October race.”

Meanwhile as most of you might be aware Karun Chandhok became the second ever Indian to race in the formula one championship. He is racing for the HRT F1 team (Campos meta).