NEW DELHI, 16 July 2003 — Michael Schumacher could soon be burning the tracks in India, according to Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone, who believes the country could become a F-1 venue.
“We will be having an F-1 race in India for sure,” Ecclestone was quoted as saying in the Indian magazine ‘The Week.’
“India is moving forward very fast. After we do something in China, India is next.”
F-1 has caught the imagination of millions in cricket-crazy India ever since the races began to be beamed live on television a few years ago. But this is the first time serious efforts are being made to make India a stop on the circuit. The southern Indian city of Hyderabad is being touted as a possible F-1 venue, although Ecclestone stressed no official moves had yet been made to organize the event in India.
“But we have been speaking to intermediaries,” he told the magazine. “So they know we are interested. I need to go and have a look, which I will do in the near future.”
Asked if he thought F-1 could compete with cricket in India, Ecclestone retorted: “We have lived with cricket all over the world and are way ahead. “I don’t think we will have too much trouble in India. I am very satisfied with the response.”
India, with a television audience of 400 million, appears an attractive bet to host a F-1 race. An added bonus is the rise of promising Indian drivers like Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandok.
“It is important to get an Indian behind the wheel of an F-1 car,” said Vicky Chandok, who heads India’s motor sports federation. Karthikeyan, 25, who is placed third in the Nissan world series — the stepping stone to F-1 - test drove with the Jaguar and Jordan-Honda teams in the last two years.
Much work, however, remains to be done before India can even be considered a stop on the F1 circuit. Besides an international state-of-the-art track — there are none in India at present — the host city needs around 6,000 luxury hotel rooms and an airport and expressways big enough to handle F-1 cargo.
“The first moves have been made,” Chandok said. “It is not an impossible dream any more.”
