Indian Grand Prix Betting

The expansion of Formula One racing throughout the world has proceeded slowly but steadily since the inception of the FIA World Championship format in Europe in 1950. Following North and South America, Asia saw its first Grand Prix conducted in Japan in 1976, followed by Malaysia in 1999, China in 2004 and Singapore in 2008. Plans for a Grand Prix in India dated back to 1997, when Calcutta was under consideration, but it was not until 2011 that a circuit worthy of F1 competition was constructed on the India subcontinent—the Buddh International Circuit at Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India, roughly 48 kilometres and one hour from New Delhi.

By Indian standards, Greater Noida is a small town—a planned community that sprung up out of nothing to ease the demographic burden of neighboring Noida, a similarly invented suburb of the Indian capital that exceeded its growth limits in the 1990s. As proposed in 2007, the raceway would be located within the region’s 2,500-acre Jaypee Greens Sports City and have a seating capacity roughly equivalent to the entire 107,000 population of Greater Noida, with the potential to grow to 200,000.

From the very outset, the Indian Grand Prix had an official sponsor in Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as “Airtel,” which is a multinational telecommunications services company headquartered in New Delhi. The course also had a name sponsor in the Jaypee Group, the circuit`s owners, but rather than name the facility after themselves, they decided to go with “Buddh” in reference to the area where the racetrack is situated – Gautam Buddh Nagar district (also known as Greater Noida).

Hired to design the world-class circuit was famed German engineer Hermann Tilke. He canvassed the world’s various F1 teams for feedback on how the circuit could be created to improve overtaking, which resulted in the elimination of a planed hairpin turn as well as the widening of certain track sections. To keep the clockwise, right-hand course challenging, a rise in elevation of 14 metres was included along with a banked double-apex bend. The main straight measuring 1,060 metres was intended to be among the longest in F1, as was the pit lane at more than 600 metres. Tilke estimated that a single lap of the finished 5.137-kilometre circuit would take at least 1:27.02 with an average speed of 210.03 km/h and reaching a top speed of around 318 km/ph.

After approving the brand-new course, the FIA allotted leg #17 of the 19-race 2011 season to the Buddh International Circuit. In the inaugural qualifying session on 28 October, Red Bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany shattered expectations by recording a lap time of 1:24.178 to win the pole position, while Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari of Spain posted the top speed through the track’s speed trap, reaching 324.2 km/h.

On 30 October 2011, Narain Karthikeyan became the first Indian driver to compete in the Indian Grand Prix. Despite picking up damage in the first lap of the race, the native of Tamil Nadu State persevered to finish seventeenth, capturing the hearts of the local crowd. Meanwhile, Vettel claimed his first-ever “Grand Chelem” or triple victory of pole position, fastest lap and leading every lap of the race. It was a sign of times to come, as Vettel would win again in 2012 and then complete the hat-trick by taking the 2013 Airtel Grand Prix of India as well.

Owing to political and scheduling issues, India will take a break in 2014 from the F1 World Championship rotation. The next Indian Grand Prix is being planned for sometime during the beginning of the 2015 season, moved up from its usual position in October toward the beginning of the season, in order to make up for the yearlong hiatus.

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