F1 and India!

Hi guys,

This week, Indian fans of F1 racing received great news. Formula 1’s governing body released next year’s racing schedule and India got a race to hold. It will be proud for us to have an Indian Grand Prix. It will be the 18th race of the season. It will be held in Noida, 32 kms away from Delhi. In this post I will be writing about India’s relationships with F1.

Before beginning the history and the current status, I must express to my blogging friend, Abhishek’s post on ‘Formula 1 is coming to India’ which induced me to write this one.

Indian Drivers in F1

The first Indian driver to participate in a F1 race was Narain Karthikeyan. He debuted for the Jordan team in 2005. He got his first points in the US Grand Prix when only three teams participated and all other teams pulled out due to problems with tyre. He finished fourth and that were the only points he got in F1. Then in 2006 and 2007 he was the test driver for Williams F1 team. Now he is associated with NASCAR race and there too he i the first Indian to qualify. No doubt he is the World’s Fastest Indian.

After Narain, Karun Chandok made his debut this year with Hispania F1 racing team. Both he and the team are inexperienced and they are facing huge problems. Let’s hope that all gets well soon.

Force India F1

The first sugary thing India got was the participation of Narain Karthikeyan in F1. Then a much sweeter surprise arrived. Vijay Mallya bought Spyker F1 Company for € 88 million and renamed as Force India F1 in October 2007. There were no points in first season and second season was also going on poorly. I thought it would be difficult for the team to survive. It was then Giancarlo Fischella finished second and created history. Then Adrian Sutil too finished fourth in the consecutive race.

Force India Drivers

This year, Force India is doing great. Both of its drivers Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi are finishing consistently in the point grabbing group. Currently Force India team is in 6th place with 58 points and Adrian Sutil is in 9th place for driver’s standings with 45 points in his bag. I hope that the team will do better in the upcoming races and seasons.

F1 in India

It has been long discussed to bring F1 into India. Many state governments raised plans to built F1 tracks. Then we had many constraints such as lack of big airports, quality hotels, huge investment, etc.

This was when Jaypee group came into the scene. Initially they requested for government funding and the government declined (read the article I wrote last year-F1-A Sports or Not? ). But this is what a private sector can do. They have allocated money themselves and have started doing the work. Now Formula 1 governing body has allocated October 30, 2011 for Indian Grand Prix.

Proposed track for Delhi Grand Prix

Though it is subject to change depending on track completion, I have hope that Jaypee group will pull off things and finish it up. They have promised to finish it by next April- May and they will do it as it has to do nothing with our Government. Also the recently opened Terminal in Delhi Airport also adds as an advantage. The current track is planned at 32 kms away from Delhi.

It would be great to see Force Indian Drivers finish in the podium in Indian Grand Prix. We need to wait for another year to see the Grand Prix in India, provided all arrangements go smoothly.

Happy Reading!!!

The First Week of Summer!

Hi Guys,

I think my last post was a fortnight back. I thought of penning down a lot of things last Sunday, but I was out of time. I went to the movie ‘Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya’ in the morning and then I was engaged writing assignments the whole day.

Also the title of this post is ‘The First week of summer’. Last week was very hot and humid here, marking that the summer had begun. Let’s hope the summer is quite mild this year, though the chances are less due to Global Warming.

Sporting Actions

The 12th Hockey world cup is going on in Delhi from Feb 28. Though India is in very poor form these days, a lot was expected from them as it is our home ground. Our players played up to the expectations in the 1st match against Pakistan, beating them 4-1. Then in the 2nd match, Australia outplayed us 5-2. Against Spain, India played better, but they failed to convert the passes and penalty corners to goals. In the end again a 5-2 defeat. Today India played England. India dominated the scene, but as usual failed to score goals even in the last minute and lost 3-2 to give up the semi final hopes. At least they must win South Africa and fight for the 5th place.

It was great to see Sachin hit a double century in the Gwalior ODI against South Africa. I have been his fan from the days I started watching cricket. There are a lot of sporting events ahead this month. The much expected IPL III begins on March 12. There have been a lot of controversies around this event. To me, any of the 8 teams have a chance to win this event. I have been a great fan of F1 races, particularly Michael Schumacher. It’s great that he is back on track this year at the age of 41. But it is quite different to see him with the McLaren Team instead of the famous Ferrari. Let’s see how he drives in the Bahrain GP on March 14.

Events in the College

College is going on nice these days, despite the huge amount of politics happening. We had better performances in the interdepartmental culturals. We got 2nd place in the events like Skit, Vocal Solo (Siva Kumar) and theme dance. We also got the 3rd place in Western dance. There were lot of politics in the events that led to conflict and repetition of events like Folk and western dances. Finally the points were calculated based on the number of students and hence we missed the 1st place by a whisker.

The interdepartmental sports are also nearing the end. We were leading a few days before, but sadly we let it slip our hands. We can’t do a lot on that, mainly because having no girls in our department we can’t rely on the events conducted for girls. We expect compensation points based on the points we scored, but we are denied and hence Sports Shield has also become a dream. But our performance was far better than last year, both in cultural and sports.

The mood in the college is upbeat after the last semester results. Much has improved than the previous semester. Our college secured the University’s 2nd place in the overall pass percentage, missing the 1st by a mere 0.68%. Last time the difference was more than 20%.

I will keep updating about my activities.

Happy reading!!!

F1-A Sports or Not?

Last Sunday, Gioncario Fischella of Force India team finished 2^nd in the race… This was the 1^st podium finish for Force India, or it was even the first ever points for the team…

Force India is owned by Mr. Vijay Mallaya of India… It was something proud for the Indians…

India is planning to set its own F1 track by 2011… So, the group has got a sanction of something around $350 million from a sponsor in India… This is when problems arose…

Our sports minister told that F1 is not at all a sport, but it is a higher level entertainment…

Actually, F1 is considered as a sport worldwide… Even in India, there is a huge fan base…

The Indian Government is not going to give money… That’s ok… But why the hell, so they block money from foreign countries…

Last week, I was watching Times Now channel, where people told their sharp comments…

“Our sports minister is not a sports man… He doesn’t know about sports… A sports man should be the minister”

“Our sports minister thinks it’s like driving an Ambassador car”

I’m of the opinion that F1 is a sport and it should be granted permission in India.