Sunday’s inaugural running of the Grand Prix of India may prove to be something of a repeat often seen this season with world champion Sebastian Vettel starting the race in pole position (at the top of the order) even as the lone Indian in the fray will start last but one.
Narain Karthikeyan, making his ninth start of the season for HRT, had finished in 22nd place in qualifying but was penalised five places for obstructing the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher. A rash of other punishments up and down the order, however, saw the Indian ace lose only one place eventually.
A goodish crowd did turn up at the spanking new Buddh International Circuit to follow the action on Saturday but a much larger number — closer to the 100,000 race organisers predicted — is expected for Race Day itself. On Saturday, the focus was on racing, and not on dust or dogs, as had been the case on the first day on Friday.
Starting behind Vettel will be his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber after 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton was penalised three places for an incident on Friday, while seven-time champion Michael Schumacher’s vibrating Mercedes handed the German legend a 12th place on the grid.
Force India went away from Saturday qualifying with mixed feelings, Vijay Mallya and Subroto Roy’s team managing an eighth place from Adrian Sutil and 12th from Paul di Resta, and they will have solid support from a sold-out grandstand designed to hold 30,000 spectators.
Overall, the BIC looked in great condition on the day, the seats and track painted in the tricolour. An array of stars are expected to grace the occasion in addition to those who are already parading around here — Sachin Tendulkar and Shah Rukh Khan leading the way on this count.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati is expected to be present with a big enough contingent for race organisers Jaypee Sports to hand over an entire floor of one of the trackside buildings to accommodate her, while the rest are expected to make do.