Could Formula 1 Return to India?

Formula 1 has been a great success story in the last five years or so. The sport has undergone a major transformation both on track and off, all of which have helped to increase the number of fans choosing to watch races on TV. The explosion in popularity has also led to a rise in the volume of F1 followers looking to bet on races, a trend that has been compounded further by the fact that so many bookmakers now offer promotions for new customers that allow them to place wagers for free. 

Things look set to continue in 2023 too, with plenty of on-track drama already helping to create tension, even if there is a strong favorite for the World Championship already. But while we have a few races already under our belts, there is still a very long way to go this season. 

Formula 1 had, for the third season in a row, attempted to host a 24-race championship this year but that has, again, been reduced to 23 following the removal of the Chinese Grand Prix from the calendar. This record-matching schedule is the most races that the F1 circus has raced on in a single season. 

The increase has been driven by the sport’s new owners wanting to expand the reach of Formula 1 to a much broader audience, including younger demographics and new regions. This has seen the introduction of two new races in the United States, a round in Qatar, one in Saudi Arabia, and a return to the Netherlands. 

There has also been a lot of talk about a race in Vietnam and a Grand Prix in South Africa that could be included in the schedule in the coming years. These would help F1’s bosses continue their quest of bringing the sport to entirely new groups of people. In the case of South Africa, a race here would make the “World Championship” a truly global event as it would then visit every continent (aside from Antarctica, of course). 

However, there is still one major omission from the Formula 1 fixture — India. The country did host a round of the championship back in the early 2010s, but it has now been missing from the calendar for a decade. 

Could we see it return given that F1 is trying its hardest to reach more people and a race in the world’s most populous country would certainly help in this quest? 

The Road to the Indian Grand Prix

Talk of a Formula 1 race in India actually began all the way back in 1997 with a proposed track in Calcutta. These discussions didn’t lead very far but they did help to the ball rolling on what would eventually come. 

More attempts to bring Formula 1 to the subcontinent came a few years later with Vicky Chandok, the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India’s president and father of former F1 driver and current presenter leading the drive. 

Things began to come together towards the end of the 2000s with Indian influences growing in the sport. In 2005, Narain Karthikeyan became the first driver from the country to compete in the sport. However, his seat at Jordan would only last one year and he wouldn’t return until 2011. 

2007 had been earmarked for the first year of an Indian Grand Prix near the airport in Hyderabad, but this also fell through for a host of reasons, including competition from other states that wanted a slice of the action. 

The Force India appeared on the grid in 2008, led by Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya, after he bought out the team that Karthikeyan had driven for just a few years earlier. In 2010, Force India was joined by Karun Chandok who stayed on the grid for two seasons. 

All three Indian entities were present for the first-ever Indian Grand Prix, which eventually took place in October 2011. While the chequered flag was taken by Sebastien Vettel, the race was very much a victory for India as it helped to showcase the country to over a billion F1 fans who watched from their TVs. 

The event was also incredibly popular with locals. Tens of thousands of fans crammed into the stands around the circuit so they could get a glimpse of the fastest race cars in the world. Many local celebrities attended too, including a whole host of Bollywood actors. 

The Final Flag

Sadly, despite the Buddh International Circuit in Sector 25 of the Gautam Buddh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh hosting three thrilling races, the chequered flag was waved for the final time in 2013, just three years after F1 first showed up at the circuit. 

In the summer of 2013, the FIA announced that India would be missing from the 2014 calendar with the intention of changing its position on the calendar to earlier in the season, meaning fans would see cars attacking the Buddh International Circuit’s asphalt again in just over a year. 

Sadly, this would never come to fruition. Some bureaucratic difficulties would have caused a logistical headache for the teams. The 2015 running of the event was dropped with the hope of resolving the problems, but India never returned to the calendar. 

Image Credit: Amulya Agarwal on Unsplash

A Return to India

There is no doubt that India would be a popular and lucrative fixture of Formula 1’s calendar. However, no serious attempts to bring back to race have taken place yet. 

From a technical standpoint, the Buddh International Circuit can continue to host F1 cars. From this year, MotoGP will be racing at the track, albeit on a slightly different and shorter layout than the one used by Formula 1. 

The venue’s FIA Grade 1 license expired back in November, but this is a formality as most of the infrastructure remains in place. 

Therefore, the steps required to bring India back onto the Formula 1 calendar are logistical, commercial, and political. However, while F1’s bosses are focused on adding races in the USA, Africa, and Asia, Indian fans may have to wait a little longer to see the world’s best drivers competing in their country.

(Disclaimer: Devdiscourse's journalists were not involved in the production of this article. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)