THE SECOND edition of the Indian GP was much awaited for a couple of reasons. First of course was to see the two title rivals Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso go head-to-head on Indian soil. Second was to see if the buzz and attraction that Formula1 had last year repeated this time as well.
The first played out extremely well with Vettel clinching his 4th consecutive win and extending his title lead over Alonso to 13 points. The second however was below satisfaction levels as the organisers struggled to sell tickets for the Formula1 weekend.
While Vettel won the race and strengthened his championship position, it was Alonso who stole the show for me after pushing his slower F2012 to the second step on the podium. Given that Red Bull Racing had the fastest cars this weekend, I would have expected Webber to maintain second and help Vettel increase his championship lead. However, Alonso kept calm and muscled his way past Webber when he got the opportunity to limit his championship damage.
I have said this before and could sound repetitive, but in my view, Alonso is the deserving champion this year after his stellar performances in the start of the season. However, the Adrian Newey designed RB8 is far superior to Alonso’s F2012 and will be his only hurdle between victory and second place in the Drivers’ Championship.
And talking about lower than expected attendance at the Indian GP this year. Let’s remember that this is only its second year of hosting and with time to come, I expect the followership and acceptance of the sport to go up hence boosting ticket sales.
Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan had a very close and competitive qualifying session on Saturday and was beaten by his team-mate by 0.001 of a second! That’s probably the smallest gap seen between two drivers this entire season. On Race Day, Karthikeyan managed to cross the chequered flag in his HRT F112 in 21st position. Sadly for Karthikeyan and his team, all their nearest competitors finished ahead of them.
Karthikeyan was one of the most cheered drivers this weekend and there are rumours floating around regarding his plans for the 2013 season. And while there were no announcements made, for Indian motorsport and for popularity of Formula1 in India, I sincerely hope that he gets a drive next season too! After all, the crowds would love to have some Indian flavour on the grid to cheer for!
Talking of Indian flavour and cheer, the Indian owned Sahara Force India team was one of the most cheered teams on the grid this weekend. After a not-so-good qualifying on Saturday where Hulkenberg managed P12 and Di Resta, P16 the team managed to score 4 points with Hulkenberg’s credible 8th place finish. This result was the best amongst all the other mid-field teams and the next best after the front running teams. With Sauber failing to finish in the points, the difference between the two teams is down to 23 points. This battle ain’t over yet!
In the week leading up to the Indian GP, two important milestones were created for the future of Formula1 in India. First, F1 in Schools, a multi-city program was launched by Monisha Kaltenborn and second, Sahara Force India’s Academy racer Jehan Daruvala was crowned the Asia-Pacific KF3 Champion in Macau.
F1 in Schools is a participative program which involves school students forming teams, designing and making their own air compressed miniature F1 cars and formulating a marketing and sponsorship strategy for their teams. The objective of the program is to educate school students on all aspects of Formula1 and while this activity is new for the Indian system I am certain that it will help promote the sport in the years to come. And this promotion wouldn’t be in terms of TV viewership alone, but could also encourage students to pursue a career in the fast-paced, exciting and glamourous world of Formula1.
Sahara Force India’s Driver Academy racer Jehan Daruvala was crowned the Asia Pacific KF3 Champion in Macau last weekend. This is probably the biggest achievement for any Indian in karting and reflects Jehan’s natural talent as well as credibility of Sahara Force India’s ‘One from a Billion’ program which was organized last year. Jehan was one of the three drivers selected by the Academy to receive a scholarship and race in the British KF3 Championship under the guidance of ace driver coach Terry Fullerton and mentorship of Paul Di Resta’s father, Louis Di Resta. While it is early days for Jehan in his motor-racing career, he has made heads turn already! Join me in wishing him all the best for his future!
The other aspect of the Indian Grand Prix that appealed to me was their inviting the Olympic Bronze medal winner Gagan Narang to wave the chequered flag at the end of the race. Thankfully the organisers looked beyond inviting politicians and Bollywood personalities! Having said that, Ajay Maken and Hrithik Roshan were the other names discussed for this distinguished activity!
And while my column sticks to Formula1 and motorsport, this time I make a much deserved exception for Pankaj Advani to wish him ‘congratulations’ for winning his 7th Worlds Billiards Championship last night. It would be great to have a multiple champion in motorsport from India too and hopefully that day isn’t too far!
