THE MINISTER “PROPOSED”, Formula One “disposed”! Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya’s assertion to the media on Monday that there would be an F1 race in India in 2027 has been emphatically refuted by the entity that matters – Liberty-owned Formula One Management (FOM).
“There will be an F1 race in India in 2027. First race will be at Buddh International Circuit,” Mandaviya had told the media on Monday.
However, Formula 1 has shot down the possibility of returning to India, at least in such a short timeframe (emphasis ours), with more than one motorsports platform quoting an F1 spokesperson as having said: “While India is a valuable market for Formula 1’s continued growth with an amazing passionate fanbase, we won’t be racing there in 2027.
“Interest in hosting Formula 1 events has never been stronger, and there is a limited number of spaces on the calendar.”
As it stands, the F1 2027 calendar has 23 slots lined up as the Dutch Grand Prix falls off, Portugal returns, and the Barcelona round makes way for Spa-Francorchamps on its six-year rotation.
For the record, the Indian Grand Prix was dropped after 2013 due to a combination of tax complications and bureaucratic hurdles, which made hosting the race financially unviable. Mandaviya has indicated that those concerns are now being addressed at multiple levels.
If and when F1 returns to India there are multiple boxes that need to be ticked off, aside from the most basic one of an already packed calendar.
An advantage that India has of course is that it already has a circuit in BIC that has hosted F1 races before. So as far as infrastructure investment is concerned, the principal requirement would be upgrading existing infrastructure to Grade 1 standards.
Long-Term financial guarantees: F1 contracts typically run for three to ten years, necessitating long-term financial stability. Hosting fees range from $20 million to $60m annually, often with an escalator clause (rising over the contract duration). For FOM, cast-iron guarantees that the Indian government will perforce have to give would be a prerequisite for India’s bid to be taken seriously.
Per SportzPower’s reckoning therefore, and IF everything falls in place, a best case scenario looks to be the 2029-2030 season for F1’s return to India.
