Indian Grand Prix to skip a year in 2014

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The Indian Grand Prix will not appear on the 2014 F1 calendar but will return to the F1 calendar in 2015, Bernie Ecclestone has confirmed.

Ecclestone told the Indo-Asian News Service an agreedment had been reached with race promoter Jaypee Group for the event to skip a year on its contract in 2014.

The race is being moved to an earlier slot in the calendar and there were concerns the 2014 and 2015 would have been too close together if that was done.

“When we signed the five-year deal with Jaypee we were keen on going to India in the first half and Jaypee wanted it to be in October,” said Ecclestone. “We gave in at that time, but now it looks we will have the race early 2015.”

Ecclestone added the Indian race will form part of the opening series of ‘flyaway’ races that includes Australia, Malaysia, China and Bahrain in March and April.

Last week Ecclestone announced the Austrian Grand Prix will return to the calendar next year at the Red Bull Ring.

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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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84 comments on “Indian Grand Prix to skip a year in 2014”

  1. ..and probably in 2016. And then ’17, ’18, ’19, ’20, etc…

    1. jimscreechy (@)
      30th July 2013, 15:28

      Yes, in all probability.

    2. Joanna Bessey (@bernie-ecclescake)
      30th July 2013, 15:33

      finger crossed!

  2. Good, probably the most boring venue on the calendar. I know teams, drivers and journalists are so lyric about the atmosphere and people in India, but that doesn’t matter to me when I’m watching the race on tv. As far as I’m concerned, it’s boring. Featureless circuit all the way through. Announcement would’ve been better if the race hadn’t returned in 2015, but I’m happy as it is.

    1. jimscreechy (@)
      30th July 2013, 16:06

      Here I disagree. I’m not sure just how much feature a track needs to have other than black tarmac, nicely defined white lines, good run off areas, and a few sand-traps for the unskilled wide boys to contend with. Mostly everything else for me is a bonus. I hate Monaco for this reason and think F1 has largely outgrown this venue. However, I also appreciate it has a lot of character and acknowledge the importance it has for the F1 calendar, so tolerate it in silence (for the most part) as a necessary evil. For me the most boring races are the processions which don’t offer overtaking opportunities or challenges for the cars/drivers, and this track is definitely not that. Atmosphere certainly accounts for a lot (Korea -5). Many will probably disagree here and I understand this is probably a very subjective topic, but I think essentially a Race is what I’m interested in and not a fairground ride… but I suppose the raw aspect of drivers simply pitting themselves against each other in the best machines available died a while back. Now we have concerts, celebs, mass marketing and PR, while the guy who waved the chequered flag in a mad frenzy has been substituted with an absent minded Pele.

      1. @jimscreechy I just said I care zero about ambiance because I don’t get to be there anyway. That doesn’t mean the track itself has to be featureless. Classics like Spa and Monza are instantly recognisable, whereas circuits like India and Korea all share the same traits; acres of tarmac acting as run-offs and nothing built near the circuit besides grandstands and a pitlane, not even any trees. They’re just emty pieces of land with a circuit thrown on there. There’s nothing to distinguish the Tilkedromes from each other and that’s what bothers me. Add some character, for instance Malaysia has those huge towers, I like those! It’s everything about the new circuits, give those damn corners a NAME. Just numbering corners is the laziest thing in the world, corners carrying names are, again, instantly recognisable. Turn 13 of a given track rings no bells for most people, which will only make it harder for a circuit to work on their own individual identity.

        1. jimscreechy (@)
          30th July 2013, 20:00

          Well in fairness Spa and Monza have had considerable time to mature into the tracks e know today. I can’t say for sure, butI very much doubt when they were built the looked like the welcoming pleasuredomes of entertainment we know today.

          just look at Silerstone and you can appreciate what a period of maturity, a lick of paint and some well invested funds can do to a track on its last legs but with basketloads of character.

          The corners… hmm dont the corners normally get named after some silly event? I dont know I’m asking, but hey I just never considered it important.

          1. Originally track features and corners took their names from landmarks like “Rascasse” or the trackside advertising like “Castrol” until they were named after a person. Now FOM control trackside advertising all corners at all tracks carry the same sponsors names so new tracks either use numbers or go directly to past or local heroes.

          2. @jimscreechy Silverstone was once an army bunker .. Now look at it ! I think you ought to give it some time . Yes , it maybe lacks a bit of character , but the circuit is a killer. Ask the drivers.

        2. If you had called Eau Rouge “turn 13” your entire life, you’d remember it just by that.

          1. @tmekt Probably not, since there’s 10 other corners on the calendar carrying that name.

          2. @Roald people remember turn 8 though!

        3. @roald I disagree as well.
          As for it being a boring circuit I think it’s come across that way mainly due to RBR and Vettel finding form during the second half of the season and dominating. I also wouldn’t say it’s featureless, I think the uphill blind turn 4 and turn 10 are quite characteristic.
          And I don’t find it hard to distinguish it from the other Tilkedromes especially with the different coloured run off areas that look fantastic on tv and in photos.

        4. i agree with u, venues also like bahrain, too much sand nothing build around the circuit, feels empty in some areas, i want back the street circuit in Pheonix, Senna’s racing home land ;):P

    2. Disagree.
      If India is a boring circuit,then Korean GP has absolutely no business in the calendar.It is the most boring race i have seen i have seen (on TV),and is unable to generate the buzz of a F1 race.
      Being in India,i can assure there was a lots of buzz about Indian GP since its inception.The race being in Delhi(Noida) but the whole country had events in the build up.
      I was even present at a “Speed fest” where Lewis Hamilton drove the MP4-27.

      1. @svarun Lewis thing on NICE rd? Man, i missed tht bcz i didnt knw tht Lewis will drive an F1 car till the day before it! And i am 500km away from Bangalore!

        @roald schedule the race at the beginning of the Monsoons. Then this race will be the best on calendar!

        1. @malleshmagdum Actually i was not talking about the Bangalore run.
          Lewis has a been popular with fans in India.
          I was referring to the Vodafone Speedfest (Mumbai) where Lewis drove the MP4-27 in build up the Indian GP.
          Here he actually drove MP4-27 once with dry tyres and 15 minutes later with Inters and later a ride AMG SLS (for lucky winners)

          1. @svarun Oh yeah. At BKC. Didn’t knw anybody in Mumbai at that time. Hence didn’t go. And later found out that a frnd working in McLaren’ sponsor had direct access to Lewis’ garage in Blore. Could have gone with him!

    3. Any time I think of India, I kinda chuckle and think back to last year’s interview with Iceman…

      Your first time in India, what are your impressions?

      I came last night at 1am or 2am, I only saw the hotel… It looks nice inside.

      1. What is your impression of Indian food ?

        Kimi : It is good as long as it is how it is in Europe :P

        1. jimscreechy (@)
          31st July 2013, 11:31

          LOL

  3. I think this might be a ploy to increases sales for the 2013 Grand Prix! It gives the organizers a chance to sell the GP as “the last GP in India for the next two years”.

    On the other hand, changing the 2015 date from end-October to April (I am assuming it will be next to the Chinese GP) might not help matters. Yes, the kids will have vacation from school so there could be more attendance. But the weather is too predictable in April which guarantees a boring race.

    Ideally, the Indian GP should be the first flyaway race (in mid-september). It is monsoon in India and can deliver a cracking race.

    1. Generally the Monsoon season delivers heavy rain, which would equate to no race being held at all, so the only thing cracking would be the thunder…

    2. The begining of the season is always unpredictable. The Buddh track is absolutely brilliant and lots of overtaking is possible. The reason people didn’t like the circuit was because of the relative lack of overtakes and the unpredictability present in the beginning of the season. What they don’t realise is that it is not the circuit’s fault. It is simply because the teams are mostly clueless about the tyres at the beginning of the season and after the august break, they would have figured out most of it, thus leading to boring processional racing.
      Moving the race to the beginning of the season is the best thing possible. The unpredictability returns. The racing will look amazing to fans. I predict that in 2015, the f1fanatic voters will vote the Indian GP around 8/10.

  4. Brilliant! When Sochi was being given the thumps up, and other tracks were trying to make their way in to the calender, I was wondering how they are going to fit all these GP’s in October/November. Then when Bernie made the comment that Indian GP probably wont happen in 2014, I knew somewhere in my heart that it is probably a little scare tactic by Bernie to get the Indian GP off October and move it onto the beginning of the year like he wanted. If that was his intention all along, this was brilliant. Make the race organizers think that they are going to lose the race. Then dangle them a little carrot saying “You know, maybe if you put the race in the beginning of the year, I might be able to keep the race going..” What would the organizers do, but agree to all of Bernie’s demands.
    No one! I mean NO ONE can replace Bernie. The master of mind games!

  5. I think the boring races so far have been down to the much more established pecking order we get towards the end of the year (and Vettel’s monopolization of the Asian tracks during Autumn). Maybe we’ll see a different winner having it at the beginning of the year. Of course, we might have a different pecking order anyway by then…

  6. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
    30th July 2013, 15:50

    Perfectly justified. Whilst it is a track layout that has received much in the way of admiration from drivers (and I personally rather enjoy it on the PS3), it is a track that is not remotely suited to overtaking, despite the long straights and hard braking zones. Also one gets the sense that F1 and India haven’t gelled, and that rather awkward feeling one gets when watching multi-million pound racing cars dice as all the while local poverty is rife has rather infringed upon the reputation of the race. Something else that has infringed upon the Indian GP is a certain Sebastian Vettel, but we shall leave the fact that every lap that Vettel has ever driven of the Buddh circuit at blissfull leisure on the table for now by saying that has historically been a lack of action across the entire field. The highlight of the Indian GP? A first lap battle between Alonso, Hamilton and Button last year. Done. A multi-billion pound facility and one moment of note. So whilst it a good track to drive, a fun track to race on and seemingly was a historical new market for F1, that market doesn’t exist, and the track? A “Tilkedrome” in every sense of the word. Now all we need is South Korea to “skip a year”, or in other words for Bernie to flush yet another billion pound project down the toilet after seeing a market for F1 where there is none. So assuming that tracks like India and Korea join circuits like Istanbul Park, we could soon have a globe scattering with Bernie’s broken dreams, whilst tracks like Imola, Algarve and Mangy-Cours, European tracks with a huge market for F1, fall into equal states of disrepair. Oh Bernie, what have you done…

    1. The first set of races are rated very high because of the unpredictability. Tyres suddenly fall off the cliff and overtakes are plenty. Out right pace of the cars right out of the box are also a factor leading to unexpected brilliant drives by mid field teams and intense battles.
      The Indian GP track is a Tilke drome only because of the tyres. If you look at the past three years, after the august break, the ratings for the races goes down slowly, only to jump up for the last couple of races where the championship is decided. Of course, there will be slight variations with rain and first lap incidents.
      Moving to the beginning of the year will see the track and race rated very high.

      1. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
        30th July 2013, 17:54

        @rojov123 Would you say that Brazil ’12, Abu Dhabi ’12 or Austin ’12 were “predictable”, boring even? OK, you may have a point in that 2011 and 2012 saw team arrive in India with a good understanding of the tyres and Vettel rocked up with an unbeatable car. That certainly hurt the race’s ratings, but the problem with Buddh is more fundamental than that. Gaining a decent slipstream on either of the three long straights is made hugely difficult by extremely slow corners proceeding them; namely turn 3 and the final corner, or in other words, the corners before the two DRS zones. Historically cars have managed to pick up a better tow on the third straight because of the faster nature of turn 4, only to find a corner with too small a braking zone for a move up the inside of turn 5; as demonstrated by Hamilton in 2011 when he tried to overtake Massa. Putting the Indian GP to start of the calender won’t change that.

        1. I really like watching the cars drive around the Indian GP circuit; it’s a joy to see them tackling the sweeping, challenging corners.
          I appreciate the fact F1 cars exist, and don’t really care if any overtaking happens or not.

          1. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
            31st July 2013, 13:32

            @xjr15jaaag I second that appreciation, but after 4 hours of practice and a further hour of qualifying, I would quite like to see some overtaking come race day; put another way, I would quite like to see some racing during the race. Great track for the cars, great track for the drivers, poor track for racing.

          2. @william-brierty
            Does great racing necessitate overtaking?
            For example, Monaco 2012 was an awesome race, but the cars didnt overtake one another.

    2. jimscreechy (@)
      30th July 2013, 16:08

      Also one gets the sense that F1 and India haven’t gelled, and that rather awkward feeling one gets when watching multi-million pound racing cars dice as all the while local poverty is rife has rather infringed upon the reputation of the race.

      My thoughts too.

      1. Fair comment about the disparity of these places but that hasn’t stopped Brazil from being a key location (poverty as absolute as it is in India) or even the people of Bahrain being stripped of all liberty.
        Which predicament would you rather be in? Poor in India or Brazil or having no freedoms in Bahrain. Should any of these play host to F1?
        Maybe India or Bahrain just need a chance to develop a Fittipaldi or Senna and then it will all be acceptable..?

        1. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
          30th July 2013, 18:02

          @psynrg Brazil hasn’t just spent billions on a state of the art racetrack that is looking set to gather dust in 2014. Bahrain is a completely unacceptable scenario for international sport and should, in my opinion, be removed from the calender. I find it hard to fathom how you can compare the situation in India to two races so blatantly incomparable.

        2. jimscreechy (@)
          30th July 2013, 19:39

          a good point @pSynrg, perhaps poverty isn’t necessarily the issue, but the comparison still isn’t a fair one. Autosport is rather more intrinsically embeded in Brasillian culture. They have a wealth of history and a fairly well establihed line of countrymen esteemly recognised within the sport. Most are practically herelded as national heros.

          The same cannot be said for India where the masses of the people have never heard of F1 and aren’t even awhere a race is taking place. Cricket on the other hand…

          1. Well, for one, poverty and racing have nothing to do with each other !! Korea / Valencia are quite well-off but does that guarantee an “awesome” race ??

            Simply because India has such a huge population, the poverty aspect gets highlighted whereas people forget that there are millions who are living comfortably and can afford various luxuries, including F-1 !!! China has a huge poor population too. Wonder why no one comments on the Chinese GP especially considering that more often than not Chinese GP races haven’t exactly been “titillating” !!!

            Anyone who’s had a head start will obviously be way ahead. Brazil has had that head start in terms of a racing culture. Given time, others like India will catch up too. Patience is a virtue my friends !!

    3. @william-brierty So much truth in this comment.

    4. @magnificent-geoffrey @psynrg @jimscreechy @william-brierty Poverty in India isn’t as widespread as the West believes. There’s a slum a km from my house. Its occupants, who by government records are below poverty line, own motorcycles & some have cars! Of course poverty is more widespread in Northern Indian states like Uttar Pradesh, where the circuit is located, but all over India that isn’t the case. In Mumbai slum dwellers are alloted comfortable apartments by the Govt, which they rent out and come back to the slums.

      India may have many slum dwellers, but is also home to one of the richest men in the world- Mukesh Ambani. He stays in the most expensive house in the world.
      And even slum dwellers have access to education and have opportunities, though limited, to improve their lives.
      Yes, our nation isn’t like the West and our living standards aren’t as advanced as yours. But don’t degrade us by calling us a poor nation or a poverty-stricken nation.

      1. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
        30th July 2013, 18:28

        @malleshmagdum Please don’t try to portray me as an aloof Westerner that thinks anywhere that isn’t Europe or America is full of people eating off the floor and goats. I am talking about poverty in the same sense that there is poverty in Spain at the moment, even the UK! Incredible to think isn’t it, but we all don’t drive our Aston Martins and Jaguars to Yea Olde Tea Shope and sip mint tea whilst our shoes are polished by our butlers. Do you not think it is a shame that billions were spent on a facility that is a) not really producing great races and b) set to gather dust in 2014, perhaps even indefinitely? Is that not two fingers up to the people who could have benefited had that money been invested in welfare, not a failed F1 bid? I certainly think so. I am most certainly not degrading India, a country that was awarded a race on the basis of its economic merits, merits that outweigh much of the Western world.

        1. @william-brierty I don’t know what image you have of India. By reading ur post i felt that you all think of India as a third world nation. Because everytime i turn on BBC, they only show our dirtiest places, they show our poorest people. They speak of Bangalore but then soon switch to some garbage heap, etc. If BBC wants to show abt India why don’t they show the entire nation rather than focussing only on a certain part of the society.
          And because I haven’t travelled to Europe or US, I feel that what I see on an intl channel like BBC is what u guys think of us.

          1. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
            31st July 2013, 11:49

            @malleshmagdum – On the basis that you haven’t traveled to “the West”, I think you are every bit as guilty of overestimating Western decadence as I am of allegedly “degrading” India. OK, the BBC may have filed a report in the wake of the 2011 Indian GP arguing that the decadence of F1 and the “poverty” of local communities clashes somewhat, but that argument is of equal relevance in countries like Spain, a country racked by the ongoing Euro crisis and by the recession of 2009. What you must remember is that despite claiming to “represent the views of a nation” the BBC is an undeniably conservative organisation; I mean just look at who their most highly paid presenter is: Jeremy Clarkson. The fundamental dynamic of right wing politics is a resistance to change, so whilst most educated people know that the “third world” doesn’t exist anymore, and that the the boundaries between the east and west have been blurred almost beyond recognition, some will still look at the former British colony that is India with a rather negative post-colonialist perspective. However whilst I was arguably being degrading in saying that poverty is “rife”, I certainly do think it is rather insulting to impoverished communities local to the track to see a multi-billion pound altar to sporting decadence gather dust in 2014.

          2. @william-brierty fair enough. And btw I wasn’t talking about a programme they did on Indian GP. But i was talking about their general way of broadcasting in the past decade that I have been a viewer.

        2. @william-brierty I partially agree with you there . They should have probably built this circuit elsewhere within India where there is actually an ounce of interest ( Narain Karthikeyan and karun chandhok are both from the southern part) . Okay , the problems are sponsors . No sponsors are willing to take on a huge investment . The Idea of an Indian Driver looks bleak considering the lack of support systems in place .
          The reason why F1 is not so popular : what investment do you need to play cricket ? A bat and a ball . For football ? a football . For karting ? Out of the question.The population does not help either . Of course it does not need anything special to follow F1 , Just a TV and this website . So, maybe in the future we will have some interest and some drivers , not just some so called team in shades of orange .

          1. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
            31st July 2013, 13:40

            @hamilfan What excellent points you raise, points that rather passed me by. Couple the issue of Indian interest in the sport, the unspectacular races, the social question marks raised by the races and the issues of lethargic Indian investment in F1, and you have a complete explanation as to why the Indian GP isn’t on the calender next year, and may yet even fail to return in 2015.

          2. @william-brierty @hamilfan Ever since they announced construction of the circuit, I have always been saying that its probably a wrong decision. Going to Delhi for the race is more expensive than going to the Singapore GP for South Indians. And most F1 fans are in South India!

    5. While you make some good points, a lot of this is premature. India has only held a race for the last two years, it’s entirely too early to be saying there’s no market for F1 in India. It needs time to grow that market. Two races is not enough.

      It is also a dangerous argument to make that the track or race is affected by the poverty present in the country hosting it. If we were to highlight the problems in every country hosting a race as something negative against the race itself then we wouldn’t have many tracks we couldn’t feel awkward about watching.

      Again your points about the relative lack of action are true, but to me premature. As stated there have been only two races held, and just because neither have been classics doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s another terrible Tilkedrome. I remember a few good battles last year between Alonso and the McLarens, and Webber-Alonso and Hamilton-Webber later on. Both races have coincided with periods in the season where Vettel was dominant, and it very well could have been a great race in 2012 if it was on at the start of the season where things were unpredictable and the teams hadn’t gotten to grips with the tyres.

      All in all its far too early to judge the merit of a circuit after a mere two races, especially when there have been several factors that have led to some unspectacular races that were not due to the track itself.

      1. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
        30th July 2013, 19:12

        @colossal-squid – I would agree that in inferring the Indian GP wouldn’t return, I was being premature. I was actually being a bit tongue-in-cheek and playing on Bernie’s hasty nature and the way in which he constantly moving onto the next thing.

        In terms of on track action however, I don’t think I was being premature. There is a rather fundamental issue with the layout of the track, an effect strikingly similar to the Abu Dhabi track. Gaining a decent slipstream on any of the three long straights is made hugely difficult by extremely slow corners proceeding them; namely turn 3 and the final corner, or in other words, the corners before the two DRS zones. Historically cars have managed to pick up a better tow on the third straight because of the faster nature of turn 4, only to find a corner with too small a braking zone for a move up the inside of turn 5; as demonstrated by Hamilton in 2011 when he tried to overtake Massa. As a result, there has been little of the side-by-side action we have come to expect of F1, and although the factors you point out have contributed to the processional nature of the races, I still can’t see much of an improvement in on track action on a track that in 2011 yielded fewer overtakes than Monaco.

        In terms of the social impact of the race, I would whole-heatedly support the excellent point you make. However, that doesn’t detract from the fact that it is something of an insult to the poorer people of India to see a facility of which billions have been spent gather dust in 2014, as their local governments say “Welfare budget? What welfare budget? We spent everything on F1.”

        So whilst it is arguably premature to judge the Indian GP after two races, the great union between great country and great sport has, as clearly demonstrated by India’s absence from the 2014 calender, not been the match made in heaven in was meant to be.

        1. @william-brierty The track in India wasn’t built by the govt. No govt support whatsoever for the GP. All pvt money. The circuit dvlprs are involved in many good deeds helping the locals living around the track.

        2. Like most other people of the world, you are not able to reconcile with the contradictions in India. We are fine with having a multi-million dollar race track in what is not the richest part of the country. On the same lines, Indians are comfortable with having a sprawling slum with 5 people living in a 10x10ft room, right beside a luxury hotel, having suites with bathrooms which are twice that size.

          Its a big country, and there is space for everybody to live in it happily. And let me tell you, the millions of poor in India are not extremely unhappy with “private” players spending millions on a F1-track. Many people look at from the point of view of pride, that India is able to hold its own while holding an international level event.

          As for welfare of the poor people, that is the reason we have the “tax issues”. I, despite being an F1 fan who would love to have an Indian GP on the calendar every year, am not in favour of any tax incentives or waivers at all. I dont want the tax to be unreasonable, but it should be there. I also invite FOM, FIA, the teams to help in whatever way they feel like to help India uplift its millions.

          As for quality of race track, I think its more upto F1 authorities rather than the track owners. After all, all new tracks are Tilker domes.

          But personally, I think the Buddh track is much better than most other Tilker domes. Most of the new tracks are just too “stop-start” in nature. The Buddh on the other hand has a long flowing high speed section starting from Turn 4 right upto Turn 16. I agree that renders a large section of the track as “impossible to overtake”. Thus I dont think you will really see a lot of overtakes on this track ever. But I think Buddh circuit presents a real challenge for the drivers and cars. But again, that is more of a personal choice, more of a subjective matter rather than objective matter.

          And more importantly, commercially most constructors will want to be in India, which has growing automobile market. Renault, FIAT, Mercedes, Honda(future) will all want to have an Indian race, as that gives them huge advertisement potential. Not to mention, with the 2nd fastest growing economy of the world, most of those advertisers you see on the sides of the cars will desperately want to be in India.

          Despite being a lover of the old world European tracks, like Imola, Spa, Monza etc, F1 and its fans have to realise that there is no way of leaving out major markets like India, Russia, China etc.

    6. and that rather awkward feeling one gets when watching multi-million pound racing cars dice as all the while local poverty is rife has rather infringed upon the reputation of the race.

      @william-brierty

      This is clearly one of the silliest statement I read. Clearly, Joe Saward written all over it!

      1. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
        30th July 2013, 20:08

        @1abe – Can you please tell me what is silly about sympathizing with a poor community peering over the fence of a multi-billion pound facility built to host a sport that few of them have much knowledge of; a facility set to gather dust in 2014? And Joe Saward? No need to get nasty.

        1. LOL. Being compared to Joe is now an insult?

    7. I rode Superbikes round the Algarve circuit a few weeks ago… I can’t tell you how good a track that is, would be fantastic overtaking opportunities as well as a few really tricky corners to get right. Shame the economy in that country will never allow it to see its full potential.

      1. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
        31st July 2013, 13:46

        @olilittlejohn I can imagine that the final corner was pretty amazing in a superbike!!!! It is just a track so suited to cars with downforce, and although GP2 has raced there and there was some F1 testing there back ’09, it has tragically largely hosted GT racing. However with the Portuguese economy as it is I can’t see an F1 car on the Algarve circuit in the near future, even though the track layout almost feels as if it was designed for an F1 car.

        1. Yeah, it was pretty epic thanks!! even with no experience on a bike you can still top a massive speed on that track! Shame they covered the speedometer’s up :( Completely agree, can’t see F1 there for a long time. Be a shame if it never makes it, as you say it just feels like it was made for F1 cars!!

  7. What a shame… it will be back! It has given us nothing but boring races! It’s a featureless track! Nothing new and/or fascinating!

    1. @joao-pedro-cqOkay , How about Monaco then ? as per your definition , it is neither new nor fascinating to watch and gives us boring races . But , isn’t it the crown jewel of f1 ? What features do you expect , palmgroves and hotels in the middle of the track ? So, Abu Dhabi is very great ? wait for a few years and then If it is still boring ,scrap India. Don’t be in a hurry .

  8. now drop korea aswell, but for good!

  9. Maybe featuring the track at the start of the season, when everything is still pretty much unknown will boost things up and F1 might pull out a proper race instead of the snorefests we got in 2011 and 2012.

    That being said… how s… must it be for everyone involved. They had to build a completely new track, and they just get 2 races at it, and then who knows? They might well never return at all…

  10. It’ll be around 40 degrees in April in the Noida region…

  11. Can’t say I’m disappointed as I am not really a fan of the circuit, and neither race there has been good.

    My guess is that New Jersey will not take place next year either in order for the calendar to be twenty races.

  12. A sensible move it seems. The end of the season needed some freeing up because it is getting very hectic. I don’t disagree that the two races so far have been disappointing, but perhaps having a longer break and being near the beginning of the season will rejuvenate the venue. Something needs to be done because it hasn’t looked good so far. Will this news mean Korea is spared for one more season though?

  13. Who cares !

    I enjoy F1 on any circuit.
    I want more and more F1 races.
    Go berniee…

    BTW : I think motogp is going held at indian gp??? don’t know when :)

    1. Motogp is going to Brasil and Thailand

  14. Buddh International Circuit isn’t that bad, but I’d rather get rid of Abu Dhabi (worst circuit in the whole F1 calendar) and kick in one of the old european venues (Imola!)

  15. The race is being moved to an earlier slot in the calendar and there were concerns the 2014 and 2015 would have been too close together if that was done.

    That’s a cover up. China held the penultimate round in 2008 and the 3rd round in 2009. Nobody dropped China.

    The real problem is the tax structure and custom duties and procedures which are very high and complicated. Jaypee is a private group and hence the Government cannot digest that fact and trying to find ways to earn money

    1. Yes, and if the disagreement over taxes etc is still there early in 2015, I guess the race won’t be coming back.
      A bit like the New Jersey GP taking a year off, then it may or may not happen in 2014 (I hope it does).

  16. Whether or not the circuit itself produces good races or not is irrelevant. India’s the second most-populous country in the world behind China, they have more F1 teams than France, it’s sent more drivers to F1 since 2005 than the United States, Canada, and they can’t secure this event’s long-term future because of politics. That’s funny, because politics didn’t damage the chances of Bahrain losing its race even when it was pretty much known that the state was still trampling over its citizens way after the 2011 cancellation. It didn’t damage the chances of the Russian GP happening next year even as the state is actively discriminating against its LGBT population. Then again, it took until the mid-80s until the sport realized that Apartheid was a bad thing and left South Africa off the calendar even though it had been going on for decades – F1 isn’t exactly a socially progressive sport, sad to say, and the only politics that seem to affect whether or not a country gets a race from one year to the next is the politics involving FOM and race organizers.

    Regardless of that, this is a bad development that India’s future looks shaky. And I know, Buddh Circuit might as well be officially re-christened Sebastian Vettel’s Playground. It hasn’t produced an all-time classic race, but that’s not to say that it can’t. And there are a lot of countries in Europe that don’t have a race right now that probably should – France and Portugal chief among them. On the other hand, this isn’t the Formula One European Championship. I think that F1 should absolutely have a presence in China, India, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Middle East – those places aren’t the third world any more, no matter how much some fans want to believe they are.

    It puts the calendar down to 21 races for next year in the short-term, but in the long-term, this doesn’t look good.

  17. I hope they skip it forever. I also heard that the Korean GP will join this “exile”. One can only hope…

    1. One can battle against all hope :P

  18. Shame, Its a nice circuit, Fast & technical & popular amongst many of the drivers.
    People complain about Tilke often saying that teams/drivers should have input in track design, Yet they still moan about India which is a circuit designed using Team/Driver input.

    The races held there have been pretty good, Some nice, close scraps for position, Some nice Non-DRS overtaking & overall both have kept me well entertained.

    Also not sure why people believe the circuit doesn’t produce overtaking?
    27 On-Track Overtakes in 2011 & 31 in 2012.
    Apart from the good levels of overtaking there have also been some good, close fights for position in both races.

    Also the same with Korea, People say its a boring track with no overtaking (Again a track most the drivers like, Fast, technical layout thats fun to drive) yet the 2 dry races in 2011/2012 both featured high levels of overtaking (46 in 2011, 33 in 2012).

    1. There is always some smartass who uses facts to spoil a good argument!!.

    2. why do we care about overtaking in the middle of the field and not at the front???? i wouldn’t care whatsoever if u know from the beginning of the race that there will be one winner…..

  19. Maybe the postponing of the Indian Gp to 2015 is a good thing in disguise as it will throw in a bit of unpredictability . As an Indian Fan I am disappointed with people who say it needs more features . Silverstone was adapted from an army bunker and the Nurburgring was a forest . Please give the track some time to mature . As far as the Tilkedrome argument is concerned , Abu dhabi is also very very boring ( I can’t even play it in PC with fun ) . So why not scrap that . It is all about Money . The Indian Government does not waive the taxes ( rightly so ) . It has to become popular with people . We need some good drivers for which we need some organizations who bring talents to the fore for which we need Rich industrialists like Mallaya who do something to develop motorsport in India rather than make profits themselves .

  20. I don’t hate the track but not a fan either. Also, difficult to watch on TV with all that filth in the air.

  21. At least the March-April racing dates can guarantee little or no Smog around the circuit from the smoke generated by the nearby villages .These past years, North India has been cooler in March-April as compared to the harsh Summers which used to begin in April earlier and also there are some surprise showers throughout this time so can be a higher probability of a wet race than in the October lot. Also October in Delhi-NCR is not so cool now, I personally like to call it the post-monsoon summers, The sunlight is stingy. And as for the festive season, as put forward by the Jaypee group, I don’t think there is any particular time in India when there are no festivities. If October-November has Diwali then March-April has HOLI and I think many people coming for #F1 can enjoy Holi much more than Diwali (Deepawali). Case rested

  22. Joe Saward is reporting in 2015 there will be Mexico, Long Beach and a street circuit in Dubai

  23. Valencia and now India… 2 of Vettel’s best tracks gone! They’ll scrap Korea, Bahrain and Malaysia!

    Need to get rid of Hungary & Barcelona plus make Hockenheim permanent

  24. What I can’t understand is why every grand prix has to be held every year. Some markets simply don’t have the fan base to sustain a grand prix every year. But every other year they just might. Also there are so many countries and cirquits that can and want to organise a GP, but the calander has no room. Why not combine the two and make an alternating schedule every year. So don’t let any grand prix repeat the next year, but the year after that. That way you can out many more gp’s on the calander. It would also mean teams have no recent data on any track. The last set up information they would have would be from a 2 year old car which would spice it up.

  25. I,ve been to India a few times and the way they work is complete chaos, They actually thrive on chaos so its no wonder that the indian govt thinks they need a slice of the cake for F1 to be there. Vodaphone and Cairn Energy have been battling for many years trying to resolve tax disputes. Bernie is quite right to avoid India until the Govt sees common sense and let Jaydee get on with it instead of constant red tape wrapped round them.

  26. I knew that the Indian Grand Prix was not going to last. It was really rather obvious- there is simply no reason to have a race in India if the government there wants to tax the event and its competitors. I don’t think the Indian government wants f1 in India. And the Korean Grand Prix should go too- it was a bad idea to go there and that was obvious the very moment it was announced.

    I have an idea of what the 2014 calendar will look like, assuming the Korean race is dropped and the new races in New Jersey, Austria and Russia work out, and Japan gets an apparent renewal (it is apparently not contracted beyond this year)

    F1 Calendar

    1. Bahrain (March 2)
    2. Australia (March 16)
    3. Malaysia (April 6)
    4. China (April 13)
    5. Spain (April 27)
    6. Britain (May 11)
    7. Monaco (May 25)
    8. Austria (June 8)
    9. United States 1 (June 22)
    10. Canada (June 29)
    11. Germany (July 13)
    12. Hungary (July 27)
    13. Belgium (August 24)
    14. Italy (September 8)
    15. Singapore (September 22)
    16. Japan (October 6)
    17. Russia (October 20)
    18. Abu Dhabi (November 3)
    19. United States 2 (November 17)
    20. Brazil (November 24)

    -There have been apparent reports that Ecclestone wants to start earlier in the year, and that Bahrain is going to be the season opener.

    – Spain generally has the best weather suited for a late April timeframe.

    -Now, I assume this site is mostly made up of users from the UK. I know that Britain has hosted a British Grand Prix in April 2000, and the weather I think should be nice enough for a May timeframe. It’s always traditionally held in late June/early July, but I think a date change like that wouldn’t be so bad. One would think it would be better to hold the race in early June where the Austrian Grand Prix is- but that would mean that it would be held on the same
    weekend as the final weekend of the prestigious motorcycle races on the Isle of Man. The most prestigious British motorcycle races being held at the same time as the most prestigious four-wheel racing event in Britain? That wouldn’t work.

    – The first American race in New Jersey cannot be held on June 15 because of the FIA’s lock of that date for Le Mans’s sake. That’s actually very beneficial to the New Jersey race because the US open golf tournament is held at the same time (June 12-15). And also a prestigious sportscar race, the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, is held on the same weekend as the listed Canadian Grand Prix and that track is only 250 miles away from New York City. So it wouldn’t make sense to hold both American events at the same time.

    1. say round 6 is Austria, Canada round 8 , America round 9 and Britain round 10

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