A billion reasons the Indian Grand Prix will be the real winner this season.
In 2004 Formula One added races in Bahrain and China to its lengthening calendar. The move was part of the sport’s shift from its traditional European base into the new world. Austria’s A1 ring was the first sacrifice, but races in San Marino, Germany, France and occasionally Belgium would follow.
Broadening the reach of the sport made a lot of sense in 2004. Bahrain was willing to supply a lot of money to host the race and since then the profile has increased in the Middle-East region. Companies from around the region like Etihad and Emirates began sponsoring teams, and eventually cashed-up consortiums began taking stake in the sport’s top teams, with Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren all being part owned by these groups. Qatar began hosting their own MotoGP race, but it was Abu Dhabi who really took western motorsport to heart. They opened their wallets and weren’t content with having their own race, and so built a Ferrari theme park next to the circuit.
China offered a potentially huge new audience, and was another cash cow waiting to be milked. Races in the East had already proved popular in Japan and Malaysia, and with China being the upcoming mover and shaker in the world, the race was a perfect opportunity for the teams and their stakeholders to take advantage of this. Multinational companies like HSBC and HP changed their sponsorship decals for the new audience and BAR Honda went for a complete rebranding, with Lucky Strike being replaced by 555.
China’s influence on Formula One has not been as pronounced as the initial hopes would have predicted. In a twist of circumstance, Austria’s involvement in the sport has grown since its axing. The country has had three race drivers take to the grid, but more significantly won last season’s driver and constructor titles through Red Bull Racing. Their on-track contribution to the sport has greatly usurped that of China, Turkey, Abu Dhabi, Singapore and South Korea– the countries deemed more worthy of hosting a grand prix, and demonstrates that somewhere along the way, Formula One’s expansion lost its focus. However, the upcoming inaugural Indian Grand Prix presents the sport’s best opportunity since 2004 to increase the global spotlight on the sport.
When the five lights went black and Narain Karthikeyan eased his clutch out on the grid of the 2005 Australian Grand Prix, he became the first driver from India to compete in Formula One. The newly bought Jordan team were short on cash, something Karthikeyan supplied through his personal sponsor, the Tata group. Though his performances did not set the world alight, having an Indian driver in Formula One planted the seed for future interest from the region in the sport.
At the conclusion of the 2005 season, Karthikeyan and Tata joined Williams and spent two seasons as the team’s fourth driver. He was rarely seen in the car, but the Tata logo was prominent on the noses of the FW28 and FW29. Such was the impact and importance of burgeoning Indian market that Ferrari convinced Tata to buy space on their 2009 car as they increased their motoring presence off the track by purchasing Jaguar and Land Rover.
For the 2008 season, Spyker, (who was Karthikeyan’s old team, Jordan, in a previous guise) was bought by Vijay Mallya. As the owner of Kingfisher breweries and airlines, Mallya became one of India’s richest men. Having previously sponsored Toyota in 2007, he stepped out on his own with Force India. In what could have been an Indian super team, Mallya opted for the experience of Giancarlo Fisichella over the dollars of Karthikeyan.
Despite buying a second-hand team and racing a one-year-old, the team’s fortunes improved under Mallya. Showing his business savvy and favouring experience over national pride, the team refocused their resources on the upcoming season, and some canny design work earned them pole position and a subsequent second place in the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix. In the team’s four seasons they have finished 10th, 9th, 7th and currently sit in 6th place in the constructor’s championship.
While this has been happening, another Indian driver, Karun Chandhok, began his career in Formula One. For half of 2010 he drove for Hispania Racing Team before being replaced for sponsorship reasons. In 2011 Chandhok’s seat at Hispania was taken by his countryman, Karthikeyan, while he became the test and reserve driver for Team Lotus, racing for the team in the German Grand Prix.
The proliferation of India in Formula One is symbiotic of the sport’s impending race in the country. As teams and sponsors aim to leverage off this newfound interest, it only serves to increase the sport’s profile even more. There are over a billion reasons why an Indian Grand Prix should work, and unlike the other countries Formula One has expanded into, India already has a recent relationship with the sport.
Track designer Hermann Tilke has overseen the design of all of the new Formula One circuits since 2011. If he can translate the country’s enthusiasm for the sport into an exciting spectacle on track, the race will be deemed a success by the fans outside of India. No matter who stands on top of the podium in India, there are billions of potential winners for this event.
