Indian court to rule on whether Sunday’s race should be cancelled

2013 Indian Grand Prix

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India’s Supreme Court will deliberate tomorrow whether Sunday’s grand prix at the Buddh International Circuit should go ahead.

Campaigner Amit Kumar has brought a petition before the court claiming the race should not go ahead, arguing the organisers have not paid tax owed on last year’s race.

Kumar previously succeeded in blocking the F1 race from receiving tax-exempt status from the Uttar Pradesh government.

Race organisers Jaypee Sports told the BBC: “Whatever the court says, we are ready to follow.”

The Indian Grand Prix has already lost its place on the 2014 F1 calendar and the political disputes surrounding the race have cast doubt on whether it will return in 2015.

If Sunday’s race were cancelled and not replaced, there would be insufficient points available in the remaining three races for Sebastian Vettel to be beaten to the drivers’ championship or for Red Bull to be stopped from winning the constructors’ championship.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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123 comments on “Indian court to rule on whether Sunday’s race should be cancelled”

  1. Wow, I wonder if this is just posturing to make Bernie pay up, or if the race really is in danger of being cancelled

    1. @mazdachris Given the timing it certainly has the feel of a stunt.

      Famous last words…

      1. @keithcollantine
        That’s my feeling, but certainly the court would have the power to shut down the event if it wanted to. India don’t believe that F1 is a sport, and I think generally take the attitude that F1 should feel priveliged (rightly so) to be able to put on the show in their country, so I doubt they’re going to bend over to make any concessions to let it go ahead if it does turn out that a significant amount of tax is owed. And it certainly wouldn’t be out of character for FOM to try and withold monies while they believe they have a chance of getting away with not paying it. So while it does seem incredible, you’d have to say it is at lease feasible.

        1. I am not completely sure that I understand the issue being before the court @mazdachris, @keithcollantine.

          But If I get it right, then the activist is claiming that now that they are ruled to have not had a right to a tax exemption last year, and that tax was never payed (because at the time everyone was counting on that tax exemption), that court decision is what makes for a sum of unpayed taxes?

          Surely there is a timetable bound to that court decision to backpay taxes for last year? For this year its no issue, as taxes have already been levied (and ticket sales went down to about 20000).

          1. @bacsb
            You’d have thought so, right? But who knows. The legal system in every country is subtly different and full of its own intricacies. I doubt the issue is a serious one. As Vicky Chandhok points out, it’s a simple part of the Indian democratic process that people can bring ‘people vs’ style cases to the supreme court and have the case heard, even if the case itself us ultimately insubstantial. Everyone gets their day in court, it seems. So in all likelihood there’s no real legal imperitive, and this is simply the work of a group of people who happen to dislike F1 (Alonso fans?) and want to try to sabotage the thing if they can. Happens all the time, apparently, and the supreme court don’t tend to want to interfere with events being staged.

            I’m certainly keeping my diary clear for Sunday at this point..

          2. I believe the court let the F!-Circus come in India and then did this move to get some “blackmail” money. They know next year the F1 will not be in India any more. Besides, if thei did it a month ago, the FIA could have decided not to race in Buddh and take the race elsewhere. But now they are all in and not to race will cost a huge amount of money.

        2. generally take the attitude that F1 should feel priveliged (rightly so) to be able to put on the show in their country,

          HAHAHAHAHAHA!

          Yeah right. That’s why there’s no race in 2014 and F1 won’t return to India – b/c India is not sufficiently reverential towards F1, nor appreciative of the opportunity afforded the country.

          Next!

          1. Beautifully put
            + 100….

      2. You might be right… but for your sake I hope your hat does’t taste too bad…

    2. @mazdachris – Tax has always been an issue for the race. The government tried to classify Formula 1 as entertainment rather than a sport shortly before the first race. If they had been successful, they would have been able to lay claim to a cut of the teams’ earnings from the television rights.

      1. That lawsuit, which asked that F1 be classified as “entertainment” rather than “sport”, so that the race would be subject to a different tax obligation, was successful, and F1 is – at this time – designated as entertainment. That’s the crux of the current issue. That suit was brought by the same guy who’s involved now, Amit Kumar.

    3. Neither one, @mazdachris! It’s simply politics and attention seeking.

    4. Why would Bernie pay anything? Is his company based in India?

      1. Oh Bernie will have to pay.. if he doesn’t want Sundays race cancelled.

        If people here think Bernie is corrupt, they clearly haven’t dealt with anyone who represents the Govt. of India.

        Bernie is an amateur con artist as compared every government official in India

    5. Regardless, it seems that they really don’t want to hold world-class events in their country.

      1. Hmmm…not sure if this is a valid point or not, but if India cancels the race will they not risk a massive lawsuit from F1 for breaking a contract? I’m sure F1 could and would sue for far more than the taxes that are owed.

        1. @matt90
          Blaming a country because some attention seeker filed a law suit is little too extreme to say the least..

          I’m sure F1 could and would sue for far more than the taxes that are owed.

          I am not so sure about that though.. where exactly will they file the law suit?

          1. You’re right. Unfortunately, it might be the way that some (important) people see it. That they’re considering or are removing the tax exemption already doesn’t bode well for relations.

        2. If the court cancels the race due to FOM not paying taxes, I don’t see how FOM could sue. They would have no action against the government of India, which would be the organization responsible for the cancellation. They could try to sue the promoter, but the promoter would have had no choice in the matter. In fact, the promoter could sue FOM since it would be FOM’s actions that led to the breach of contract after the promoter paid the sanctioning fee and incurred the costs of preparing for the race.

    6. I think it’s just India being India. It’s a great country with great people. But they are terrible at organizing – if you wanna get something done there, it usually ends in a bureaucratic nightmare full of corruption.

  2. What an abomination of an event this is. Its probably not even worthy of being called an “event”. More like a political turmoil. Its a pity that the track will be going to waste, its been well thought out. Maybe if they could find a way to transport the track to Yas Marina everything would be good. Sadly not though.

  3. Wow!, has this ever happened before? @keithcollantine

    1. To some extent, yes. The South African GP in 1985 was always under threat from the apartheid mess. It did go ahead, with 1/3 of the grid missing. A real sad way to farewell the old Kyalami.

      1. Maybe it will happen again this weekend

      2. @lifew12 Was it a boycott from the teams, or did the courts/state canceled it?

      3. @full-throttle-f1 @lifew12 @william @caci99 Actually it was quite some way short of a third – details here:

        1985 South African Grand Prix flashback

      4. Actually, only 5 cars were missing from the eventual starting grid of that race. the Renault works team and the Ligier squad didn’t show up to Kyalami because of the French government pressuring those teams not to participate, and Alan Jones didn’t start because apparently he was unwell.

      5. 5 of 25 cars were missing from the grid. No one wanted to go to Kyalami in 1985 because the country was under a state of emergency (which had been declared by President P.W. Botha in January of that year) and there was a very real possibility of a civil war there. Going to Kyalami in 1985 was a mistake for all concerned. In my opinion, politics and sports should only be kept seperate except if the teams’ safety is under threat and if they are racing in a country where the authorities are capable of instigating violence that is unpredictable and unnecessary.

  4. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat ?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  5. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    24th October 2013, 12:24

    India’s Supreme Court will deliberate tomorrow whether Sunday’s grand prix at the Buddh International Circuit should go ahead.

    Surely it’s too late now though? No?
    I mean, what would they do for Sunday if they’ve done qually and everything, and then come Sunday morning only find out that the race is cancelled?

    1. It just saves us from having to sit through another 1.5 hours of Red Dull.

      1. @lifew12 Wouldn’t not watching the race acomplish the same thing?

        You know, the fun of snarky comments is that they have to be somewhat intelligent.

        1. Agreed. Any race is better than no race, and for all we know it could be a cracker.

      2. 1.5 hours of Red Dull

        @lifew12 Thats just brilliant!

    2. Pack up and go home, I guess

    3. Well, they can go out watch some belly dance…

  6. ‘Vettel clinches title in India’s Supreme Court’? That would be the saddest title decider ever.

    1. @girts – But it would nicely summarise the season as a whole. I’ve found 2013 to be extremely frustrating, what with the bickering over tyres, the way everyone tries to manipulate the media for their own gain and pretend it is for the good of the sport, the incident with Mercedes, and the way teams and drivers are succeeding because others failed rather than because they got it right. So having the title decided by an anti-climactic court ruling over an unrelated issue would at least be consistent with the mood of the year.

      1. Well said, it does sum up the season somewhat.

      2. Once again @prisoner-monkeys and I are in agreement, well said.

      3. the way everyone tries to manipulate the media for their own gain and pretend it is for the good of the sport

        Ummm… where I’m from (planet Earth), the media is the one that does the manipulating, not the other way around.

        Other than that I agree with your criticism of the 2013 season.

        1. @marciare-o-marciare – Please. Remember the way everyone went running to the media over the tyres? Rather than sit down and have an actual discussion about it, the teams ran to the media and put pressure on Pirelli to make tyres that were better-suited to them.

      4. Sadly, I agree.

    2. @girts not that it’d change the outcome of the world championships anyway? both titles are more than sealed.

      It’d be sad for the Indian GP to leave the calendar this way, though…

      1. It will not make 1 jot of difference to who the winner of the championship is. But no racer wants to win a title while sat in the pits, or at home.

        As I said in another post, it’s pretty much the worst way to seal a championship (excluding tragic circumstances).

    3. pretty much, yeah.

    4. It didn’t come to my mind, but yes, you’re right ! OMG, that would be so sad for the sport…

  7. If Sunday’s race were cancelled and not replaced, there would be insufficient points available in the remaining three races for Sebastian Vettel to be beaten to the drivers’ championship or for Red Bull to be stopped from winning the constructors’ championship.

    Please not another championship settled in court…

  8. What is a “campaigner”? Just someone opposed to F1? Or someone from the government trying to raise more taxes?

    And why only now and not half a year ago? After all, the 2012 race was 12 months ago so there should have been ample time to collect the taxes (or stop the 2013 GP) beforehand.

    1. Well said!

      1. This is just a political stunt to make Jaypee groups a bit tense… coz ..If you remember, Jaypee had their affiliations with Kumari Mayawati, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh state from the BSP party ( She was the one handing out the trophy to Vettel in 2011) and ever since she lost the state elections and the opposing party SP came into power, they are making the Jaypee group pay for their links with the BSP.

        1. But you forgot about Suresh Kalmadi – he plundered our Commonwealth games money,brought so much of shame & his son invested the money in the circuit. I’m an F1 fan ,but for the reason above I can never respect the circuit & their hardships. You can ask those Europeans – it’s always country first.

    2. Maybe because they wanted to drive home a point that F1 needs to pay its taxes? What better way to stick it to the sport than getting the event cacelled when it’s just about to go ahead?

      Plus there may well be much more to this that we don’t know. Presumably FOM (I assume, since they’re the promoters) will have known for a long time that tax is owed since F1 was legally ruled not to be a sport, and so the feeling may be that they’ve had ample time to pay up and now it’s time for them to suffer the consequences.

      1. @mazdachris – The petition says the organisers have not paid taxes. The sport itself is fine.

      2. @mazdachris, the track owners are the “promoters” and they will be the ones left holding the can. Usually Bernie cuts such a tough deal that only a government can be the promoter or has to partner the promoter. I actually have a great deal of sympathy for the Goverments position, why should FOM make loads a money without contributing a share, I don’t imagine tickets to a GP are tax exempt in other democracies.

        1. Yup, I have been working at BIC past 15 days, wat a waste of money it is, here racing is not important, everything nice n shiney, sponsors and their interests, money and hospitality has taken away the sporting essence, last thing they think about is oh we have a race too, FOM is a gray organization, in the name of sport they are running entertainment business and all the money remains inside F1 bubble itself nothing to the local government and they deceive as if it is sport, I am still a racing fan but 15 days of work at Buddh international circuit has changed my perception of wat F1 is about in today’s time, I’m happy it’s not coming back to India, taxpayers money gets flushed in police and army arrangements, and wat does FOM gives back, zero. I’d still love to watch F1 on tv though :( feels sad

    3. @mike-dee – Why now? Because the eyes of the world are on the circuit now. The petitioners are probably hoping the organisers will see paying up as a preferable alternative to bring embarrassed in front of the world. It’s blackmail within the letter of the law.

      1. “Why now” because the promoters will be bankrupt after the GP and FOM wont care and wont be there.

    4. @mike-dee I doubt there is genuine interest in the litigation. I would wonder if the Indian GP really gets canceled just because the taxes were not paid, as claimed. Because, the organizers could argue that they could generate more revenue if they are allowed to proceed with the race and could pay the due taxes, if there is.

      PS: There are many more people/organizations lurking around in India who file such suits especially a few days prior to an event or a ceremony just to grab media & people’s attention.

    5. Because now they can oblige Ecclestone to put some money (blackmail) or loose all the investment done in bringing the F1 to India. If they had said it long ago, the F1 would have gone elsewhere. There are many countries interested in organizing an F1 race.

  9. India, Incredible India!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd22ESWXeY4
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incredible_India

    Would be really good marketing for the country to get a GP cancelled a day or two before the race…

  10. Nothing to worry about. The pace at which the SC functions in our country, it will be months before the dispute is settled. They probably will allow the race to go ahead and ask the Jaypee Group to furnish a bond.

    1. @sandy Indeed..expect several adjournments before a decision is made..

  11. Could the Indian courts not rule that the entire season be finished and we can all forget about this year and look forward to 2014 instead?

    1. +1
      Good idea!!! ;)

    2. @magnificent-geoffrey Ah, but I feel neither one is happening.

    3. Bribe, anyone?

  12. Doesn’t the event start at the start of FP1 tomorrow? They’re unable to rule the race cancelled unless they cancel the whole weekend (Save for any unforseen circumstances like weather, security problems etc.)

    They’d have to make and publish their decision quite early on if that’s the case, or am I missing something?

    1. They’re unable to rule the race cancelled unless they cancel the whole weekend

      or am I missing something?

      Yeah you’re missing the fact that they can cancel the race whenever they want, even if it’s after the start of FP1 or of the race itself. F1 is not some supra-national entity that local laws must bow to. If a local government says drivers must race in reverse gear while wearing chicken suits and singing a tune from a Rogers&Hammerstein musical of their choice, or not race at all, then drivers must do exactly that, or not race at all. If a local government cancels a race, it’s canceled pure and simple.

      1. AdvancedIdeaMechanics
        24th October 2013, 23:32

        That race format would have the virtue of being more interesting than much of this season. I’d love to see what kind of aero setup they’d use for the chicken suits.

      2. “drivers must race in reverse gear while wearing chicken suits and singing a tune …”
        On a second thought that may be a good idea and very entertaining. It would also require a great talent from the drivers. I would definitely like to see that.

  13. i will bet that the GP will go ahead. seriously is it possible to bet on this on sky bet or some other website?

    i’ve been winning a lot with Seb this year so this would be an interesting change.

    1. You are missing that the SC is THE LAW.

      1. How did this not print under @keeleyobsessed, ?

  14. Theory says that tax exempts should be issued in case of major social and/or economic benefits spilling over from a certain activity. What does F1 brings to India?

    1. Global exposure
    2. A week of major cash inflow (tourists, teams, media)

    But we must bear in mind that apart from tax exemptions, India has to pay a thick fee to FOM. Financially, if the inflows are bigger than outflows, it’s a good thing, otherwise it’s not correct but there must be social costs and gains that should be considered as well, I’m not a India specialist but after building a state of the art and pricey circuit to host the race I would not get rid of the most important event of the year…

    1. @jcost Well, I think the ‘exposure’ argument in case of F1’s traveling circus is highly overrated. Really, it’s not Olympics. I guess almost everyone heard of a country named India (and Indians ;), and track shots won’t give much idea on what’s to see in the region.

      On tax exempts – I can’t say for the Indian people in this case, but I believe those should be given in case when the economical impact is long-term. I don’t see that in F1 events, as most people really come just to see the race on one day in the year.

      And on getting rid of the event – if the event brings big losses, why the organizers should continue with running it? That’s pure economy. If you had a $10M, would you just give it away?

      P.S. I’m not sure, but I think it’s the organizers (or maybe the local authorities?) who pay the fee, and not the Indian government. I think that’s an important distinction and we should try to avoid the oversimplification of saying that the country pays the fee.

      1. @phildick as per your explanation and India being a country will many hurdles to overcome, staging a GP may not be a great idea.

    2. @jcost

      Financially, if the inflows are bigger than outflows, it’s a good thing, otherwise it’s not correct but there must be social costs and gains that should be considered as well, I’m not a India specialist but after building a state of the art and pricey circuit to host the race I would not get rid of the most important event of the year…

      Theoretically, you’re right. But this is India.

      Right now someone has filed that suit so they can prepare for a huge pay day (in the form of a bribe), and then use that money for bribes in the scam on his agenda.

      It’s not like the tax money is ever put to good use in this country, it just adds to to the bottomless piggy bank of corrupt politicians

      1. @todfod so that’s black-mailing? Oh my.

        For me it’s good-bye India and your beautiful motor park.

        1. If they genuinely wanted to protest, they could have done it anytime over the past year… but instead they waited for the point of no return (race weekend) before saying they are going to abandon the race.

          They caught Bernie and the organisers at the exact point in time where they have no option but to pay

    3. Melbourne GP generates around AU$50 million loss, for each of the last few races, which is covered by the tax payers. There is always a debate about this before and after the race but in the end, taking into the account the amount of money spent by the city and the government on other forms of advertising, the contract is always extended. There were even attempts by Sidney to “steal” the race like Melbourne did to Adelaide.

  15. Don’t take it seriously…the petitioner just wants publicity….thats is the reason he has petitioned against the race now….to be in the news. And the GP wont be cancelled….

    1. I think that the petitioner wants more than just publicity. How about a “settlement” to withdraw the petition?

      1. Ha, a tough guy like Bernie would never pay blackmail, would he?

        1. The jury is still out on that one, blackmail, greasing the wheels, sharing the pie, it will be settled in the future.

  16. I am originally from India, a country where anything can happen and usually does. More often than not, this is a stunt for someone – and that someone could ne just about anyone in an influential position – to wrangle some opportunistic money.

    Having said that, if the race does get cancelled, I am sure you all know what that would mean. As Rocky would say to Vettel….Weltmeister!

    If it comes to that, would it be the first time a WDC (or WCC for that matter) is crowned due to a cancelled race?

    1. Agreed totally. Where are you now? Which part of India were you from?

      1. Bangalore…or more precisely, Bengaluru as they now call it. For the past 29 years I have lived and worked in the UK

        1. Amazing. You have done a good job sir, moving out of that place, I am originally from Calcutta, or Kolkata as they now call it, and reside in Vienna. I’m 26 and waiting for F1 to return here. :)

  17. Or how F1 is becoming more mediocre…

    This man has already managed to stike against the organisers once and I that means the cance that it wil get canceled is real. I bet FOM and Bernie are not amused, a canceled race cannot be good for business anyway you look at it. It would also mean Chandhok can forget about getting reinstated in 2015. IF it get’s canceled it’s goodby India

    1. Agreed with your last point. But I doubt it will be cancelled for this year, but this clearly isn’t helping its cause to be back…

  18. The reason the tax hasnt been paid is because the indian gov believe they can tax the entire seasons profits and not just claim a tax for their race like most other contries.

  19. GP won’t be cancelled. Court will ask the Group’s directors to furnish a bond.

  20. Don’t think it will get cancelled, but it partially depends on if the court wants to show the country doesn’t need F1. I have no experience with India, so I have no idea of the likelihood of them using their power to get a message across. (probably not that high)

    Ending the championship in Court over Taxes would be a potential blow to F1’s image too.

  21. Expect exactly the same kind of shenanigans if there was ever a race planned in Thailand.
    And, yes, this is simply people trying to make money.

  22. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
    24th October 2013, 16:19

    Oh, no! Not my first race live from the track!!

    1. This is a good point — what happens to all those who paid to go? Refunds or “your loss”?

  23. I say cancel this GP already. Cannot have this issue every year. Better to remove it off the calendar.

    A stupid campaign when there is a lot of issues everywhere in the country that needs attention.

    I hope it isn’t the dude who banned usage of sun-films in vehicles.

  24. So what. Cancel it then. No one wants to go there anyway.

    1. The trouble is they’re already there and set up

  25. Oh please don’t let it be cancelled… that would mean fewer races for Lotus to overhaul Ferrari and Mercedes for 2nd in WCC, which means a lower chance of earning the higher prize money associated with 2nd and thus a lower chance of Hulkenberg getting the Lotus seat! If Vettel gets the WDC that’s alright, it’s virtually decided anyways, but the cancellation of the race will likely have a significant impact on the outcome of the 3-way battle for 2nd in the WCC.

    1. An inside source already told me that they gave the Lotus seat to one Michael Schumacher, so you don’t have to worry about it.

      1. @marciare-o-marcire
        The silly season is supposed to be, well, silly but this is downright absurd; if I remember correctly Schumi has retired from F1 for good so why would he return, especially given his lackluster comeback.

  26. retribution for the organisers for forcing farmers to sell their land on a cheap!

  27. David (@mansellsmoustache)
    24th October 2013, 18:06

    This will get really interesting when they start impounding the cars, team assets etc as a lien on last year’s unpaid ‘tax bill’.

  28. Last minute tax problems in India, human rights issues a week before Bahrain race, get rid of the pair of them.

  29. If Sunday’s race were cancelled and not replaced, there would be insufficient points available in the remaining three races for Sebastian Vettel to be beaten to the drivers’ championship or for Red Bull to be stopped from winning the constructors’ championship.

    I really hope that isn’t how the Championship is won, that would really be a horrific ending.

  30. This kerfuffle should be a suprise to nobody. Just ask any of the companies still owed money by the Commonwealth Games organisation in India. They are still fighting it out in court years later. As one of the opening ceremonies organizers said:

    INDIA
    I’ll
    Never
    Do
    It
    Again

    Canceling the race will have a much wide impact on India’s reputation as a place do do business, any business. The key things investors want is legal transparency, legislative predictability, and swift resolution of disputes. This would be extremely bad publicity.

    1. Canceling the race will have a much wide impact on India’s reputation as a place do do business, any business. The key things investors want is legal transparency, legislative predictability, and swift resolution of disputes.

      Those things in India? Ha, ha, ha! And Ha, ha, ha again! You’re more likely to get snow flurries in the Sahara!

      1. Hahahaha you’re more likely to get those things in ITALY than in India!….
        well, on second thought….

  31. I think that canceling the race would be a massive and very effective statement against internationalization and the detrimental process of global integration which hides behind a facade of commercial interests. Therefore I sincerely hope that the Indian authorities will ruthlessly crush the GP. Who knows, it might kick off a slow process of bringing F1 back to Europe where it belongs. And anyone who doesn’t agree with me is either Indian or lying.

    1. Erm…interesting. You really think a European Championship would be more prestigious than a World Championship? No Thanks.

      F1 belongs on a global stage with athletes from all over the world competing for a World Title. I don’t think returning to a handful of enthusiasts with a bag of spanners and an aristocratic driver with a suitcase of cash driving an old lorry round Europe is ever really going to happen.

      1. Only Europe. Will Europe be able to support/finance it though :) The competition is global and if anybody can’t accept it, he is blind.

  32. If the race is really cancelled, and if it never returned, then wouldn’t Vettel be the only winner of the Indian Grand Prix? I wonder if that’s ever happened before.

    1. Vettel will not only be the only winner of Indian GP but will be the only man to have led all the laps competed on Indian soil. I cant remember of hearing any such record before.

  33. Anyone else feel like slapping the crap out of these negligent Indian Organizers?

  34. Calm down guys! They are into the first Practice and at least that’s a start.

  35. I don’t know why the organizers choose UP out of all the states in India, it would have been better if the track was built in more developed and better governed states like Punjab/Haryana, TN, Karnataka or maybe even Uttarkhand because its a beautiful tourist state with beautiful terrain.

  36. As everything is political in our country their is no surprise that every privately organised events ends up into hiccups. Everyone looks out for issues and wants to drain out as much money as possible making it very political but having said that India on the other hand have a huge youth population who are following as much of Formula 1 as Cricket and know how among the youths are spectacular but sadly youths don’t run this country.We have created a spectacular circuit no doubt about that but parallely very little has been done do promote the sport. Formula 1 needs more time in a country like India and some right political situations(which currently is not). But Formula 1 has a huge potential in India and vice-verse. Is it a sport or an entertainment is actually a political debate between various ******* in our government who similarly screams about IPL being a celebrity event rather than a sporting event. Hence I am not worried about it.I would have been worried if our famous sporting figures would have called it so but that has never been the case. Hence I wish days will change and will again have this race here and also in the distant future with a potentially good Indian F1 driver driving a front end car.
    I am sure and hopeful that the effort made by the Jaypee group and the Indian Motorsport federation will not go in vein.

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