Dust Bowl Blogging

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 10^th, 9^th, 7^th and currently sit in 6^th 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.

2011 Japanese Grand Prix review

Until Saturday afternoon, the top of the time sheets had been owned by McLaren’s Jenson Button. Buoyed by a three-year contract extension, the 2009 World Champion looked a class above the field in the opening three practice sessions.

For Button, Suzuka had become a second home race. He is the former poster boy for Japanese manufacturer Honda’s foray into F1, has a Japanese girlfriend and has the Japanese characters Ichi ban (number one) printed on top of his helmet. For this race he even replaced the Union Jack motif on his helmet with Japan’s rising sun.

However, on Saturday afternoon, Button’s supremacy over Suzuka’s figure-eight was usurped by Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel. Needing one point to wrap up the title, the young German surprised his own team with a lap that put him on pole position. In a session where more cars elected to save their tyres than offer a qualifying lap, Vettel trumped the whole field with a lap that was only 1/100^th of a second quicker than Button’s. Further down the grid, Kamui Kobayashi had the home crowd on their feet with his 7^th place while Mark Webber and Michael Schumacher seemed to disrupt Lewis Hamilton enough that he was unable to tour the circuit quick enough and set a flying lap in Q3.

Come race day, Button was fired up to make amends for qualifying and to keep the championship battle alive. As the five lights went out he was forced onto the grass by the slow starting Sebastian Vettel. Though the world title had been essentially won at turn one, an aggrieved Button took to his radio demanding that Vettel be penalised for his start-line move. When nothing occurred, Button had to sit tight and let the race come to him. With all teams suffering severe tyre wear, his signature smooth driving style would be the perfect counterpunch to the aggression shown by his rivals.

By lap 9 the race began to sway in Button’s favour, as his slower teammate Lewis Hamilton was forced into the pits with a right-rear puncture. Not long after race-leader Sebastian Vettel headed to the pits after it became apparent his rear tyres had started to fade. Button followed a lap later and momentarily closed the gap at the front.

When Vettel stopped again on lap 19, Button again stopped a lap later but this time was able to gain track position over the German. Lap 24’s safety car offered an opportunity for Vettel to close the gap to Button, but it was Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso who would be the largest beneficiary of the intervention, as he later took the position from Vettel.

With the front three swapping positions, Michael Schumacher spent his afternoon breaking records and front wings. At 42-years-old, Schumacher broke Jack Brabham’s 1970 record of being the oldest driver to lead a grand prix. Somewhat fittingly, he broke another Australian’s front wing as he tussled with Mark Webber. The two shrugged the incident off in a way that Lewis Hamilton and Felippe Massa should take note of, as for the second race in a row the pair collided with Massa coming off worse for wear.

Kamui Kobayashi was unable to turn his translate his Saturday form into points. Despite his prayers from inside his cockpit on the grid, he slid down the order at the first corner and never recovered. Although he is revered for his bravery when it comes to overtaking, his race was a relatively quiet affair. This quiet approach was mirrored by his teammate, Sergio Perez, who despite his illness was able to drive the car into a points position by making fewer stops than the rest of the field.

Bruno Senna was not able to live-up to his surname at a track where his uncle helped shape the Senna legend. Vitaly Petrov in the other Renault had an admirable race to 9^th place and was joined in the final points paying positions by Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg. Rosberg, who had started last on the grid, raced through the field and overtook both Force Indias having taken advantage of having an extra set of tyres due to his qualifying mishap. Both Force India cars raced well and it could be said that Adrian Sutil’s move on the inside of Kamui Kobayashi at 130R could have been worth points on its own. Alas, 11^th place was the best he could offer.

As the race drew to a close, there were five world champions in the top six, the front three in different cars. Though he had fallen behind Alonso, Vettel was about to take the title of youngest ever back-to-back world champion from him. Alonso would get close to Button, but the checkered flag fell before he had the opportunity to overtake. As Button pulled up close to his pitwall to celebrate his victory, Sebastian Vettel followed him as he celebrated his second world title in a row. On a day where he lost the battle on track, he won the war to keep the number one on his car.

Coming into the race, for Sebastian Vettel to lose the title he needed to fail to score at all of the remaining races, while Jenson Button had to win them all. Button had done his best to make this happen, but in typical form, Vettel showed maturity and poise that defies his years. The home crowd’s favourite may not have delivered on race day, but their adopted son rose to the occasion. As Button’s named returned to the top of the timesheets in Suzuka, he did so with the rising sun shining from his helmet.