Formula One: Elite sport? No, we're just like you
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Williams chairman Adam Parr denied Formula One was an elite sport as team bosses defended its debut in India, where hundreds of millions of people live below the poverty line.
Eton and Cambridge-educated Parr said the sport's drivers, technicians and staff came from "normal backgrounds", adding pay was more evenly distributed compared with football's English Premier League or IPL cricket.
"If you look at the people who participate in the sport, drivers and the rest of us, everyone is from normal backgrounds (and) work hard," Parr told a press conference on Friday.
"I think actually if you compare the amounts people are earning in our sport compared with the IPL (Indian Premier League) or the English Premier League it's a much more democratic, much more spread-out sort of sport.
"So I think it's very important on the eve of our Indian Grand Prix to make the point this is not an elite sport, it's a sport for the whole world. Six hundred million people enjoy it and many many thousands of people participate."
Formula One is known for its high entry costs and glamorous lifestyle, while seven-time champion Michael Schumacher is estimated as one of the world's richest sportsmen.
The sport's lavish image has prompted some discomfort before Sunday's Indian Grand Prix, held at a brand new, $400 million racetrack in Uttar Pradesh, a state rated as one of the world's poorest regions.
"You can't forget the poverty in India. It's difficult coming here for the first time, you realise there's a big divide between the wealthy people and the poor people," said British driver Jenson Button.
But Force India chief Vijay Mallya said India should not be "bogged down" by the fact that more than a third of its 1.2 billion population live on less than a dollar a day.
"In every country there are the privileged and under-privileged. We have under-privileged people in our country but that doesn't mean the country must be bogged down," Mallya said.
"We must move forward. The Commonwealth Games were held here in India, now it's Formula One. I'm sure there will be several other global events in our country because this is a world-class country in many ways," he added.
"Sure, we have our problems, but those are being addressed."
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