[vivriti]

Great event and am very happy that it went off very well.

F1 coming to India is a dream come true indeed for me who grew up watching races at Sholavaram.

Originally Posted by nanduchitnis

Without her blessings this track/land acquisition/event would not have been possible.

Makes sense !.

[codelust]

Was lucky to be at the East stand where few of the pieces of action (well, other than overtaking) happened. It was quite an experience. There were a few glitches here and there (not on track, though), but hats off to the team who pulled it off. Very very very nicely done.

Next year should be a lot better, once the track gets more rubber on it and if they can figure out a way to keep the dust a bit less on track it should reduce the speed differential that takes off any incentive to attempt overtaking anywhere than the long straights. The teams don't seem to have sorted out areo packages well enough either.

You have to listen to the Lotus (Caterham or whatever its name is this week) power out of a corner. It is loud, really loud!

[HammerHead]

To be frank I was skeptical about this event and a dog running on the track during practice session kept me thinking that this event would bring more shame to us Indians after CWG!!

In the end it was rather a smooth event!! Good Job organizers

By the way during the whole race I was waiting to get an glimpse of elephants, you know what I mean

[Mik]

The F1 race went well, no doubt.
What i don't see is, the parallels being drawn with a "failed" CWG and a successful F1.
Think about the scale of the two events. CWG required almost the entire city with dedicated lanes, multiple governments and multiple stadia-over two weeks and before that.
Not to mention the tremendous infra development that was needed to host the event. Also, CWG went on for two weeks(i could be off by a few days) and hosted 10000 athletes(again, a ball park figure)
In comparison, formula 1 was a much much smaller scale event!Also, lets not go so euphoric that we miss out the poor organization of F1. The Dog incident not withstanding, i have seen open potholes in footpaths, barriers almost on the verge of breaking, broken tiles on pavements which have been hurriedly put together. Stinking bathroom too!
I have attended a few CWG events and frankly, they were pretty well organized under the circumstances.
Let not our hatred for the corruption by Kalmadi and co. overshadow the CWG too, which, with all its glitches, did give us a spectacular opening ceremony and some really well organized events.

About the Mayawati bit. Its well known in real estate circles that each and every land sold in Noida/Greater Noida region has a predesignated cut for Mayawati built in. Jaypee is her pet builder and has got huge chunks of land for free from her!! Infact, the reason RE experts are wary of jaypee as a builder is because of UP elections. If Mayawati doesn't come back, Jaypee will be in for a huge setback and all that free land acquired from villagers at laughable prices will be open to scrutiny.

[mgh]

tongue in cheek Reuter's report on Practice One and the dogs
With an audience of one lakh for the race, do not think it can be called elitist. The single day ticket prices for race day were comparable to IPL prices, so on that score also it cannot be called elitist.
The organisers and formula one, deserve all credit.

As far as the land is concerned, possession is nine points of the law, so no problem expected in future.

Once the governments realise that F1 is a major tourist attraction, in addition to a sport, do not visualise problems.

[tifosikrishna]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Special mention also to "sideways" - Farhan Vohra who was the chief clerk of the course and responsible for getting the track into shape and compliance

That's some achievement Farhan, proud of you... please do share your experience here.

[Blue_V]

Im not happy just because F1 was a success, now there is a proper circuit for the lower formulas to race and also the bikes.

Congrats to Jaypee !!

[mgh]

Maya, Jaypee show Delhi, Gurgaon how to get it right - The Times of India

More accolades

[_raVan_]

Congratulations to the organizers for getting it right! Its really an achievement for the entire nation to successfully host a F1 event which we have been dreaming for so long

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by HammerHead

By the way during the whole race I was waiting to get an glimpse of elephants, you know what I mean

A brilliant show. Total of three hiccups to date - dog in practice, Indian customs not allowing some minor equipment of Merc (as reported by Schumi) through in time, and choked mobile networks.

Even the Congress guys went and by all accounts the neta security did not mess up things for others. I bet the Congressites had their tails bet.....

Should teach our govt how to do things properly. I bet Jaypees will go solidly into the black in a couple of years.

Also we forget to raise a toast the Herr Tilke, so let me do so now.

Tongue in cheek: One elephant was on display.

[Vid6639]

I'd like to hear how the fans found it. Jaypee might have satisfied the drivers, media and F1 honchos but what about the fans.

How were the facilities? How was security? Were there long queues due to mismanagement? What about food, beverages and restrooms? Were the stands clean? Big screens working? Anything not yet finished in the stands.

If that was taken care of then it's absolutely brilliant. If not then next year they will have an uphill battle in getting numbers.

[Newpunter]

Apart from a few hiccups here and there, the event was very well organized. However, there were also some bad things that need to be highlighted and not repeated:
1. Dogs on the track during practice was really bad. I know it happened earlier during GP2 in Turkey, but that doesn't excuse it's happening again. I read on Twitter that the dogs were seen much before practise actually started, but no one bothered.
2. Some of the team toilets were leaking near kitchens and were smelling very bad. One team member was reported to have said that they were 'eating their own sh**' .
3. The Track. Drivers gave a thumbs up and everyone seemed to like it, but in the end, the race was boring and the track seems like just another boring Tilke track. Everyone said the same about Abhu Dhabi, Korea etc before the races started and look at people's opinion of those tracks now. I just hope the Indian track doesn't go the same way. It is high time F1 got rid of Tilke and his mostly boring tracks.

Other than these issues, it was a really well organized event and most of the people in F1 seemed to have loved the event. Let's hope we can put on an even better show next year. Well done Jaypee .

And for the minister who was complaining he didn't get an invite to the event ( after being the main guy who blocked any tax rebates for the event from the government ), well maybe you will get an invite from the 'Poor' IPL and ICC ( who have got huge tax write offs from the government ).

[sgiitk]

@vid6639; If there was major chaos the media would have brought it up by now. By all accounts the officialdom was not given any mileage.

I have attended four F1 and one touring car races in the UK during 1973-76. A walk of 2-3 miles, and going a min of 3 hours early is the norm there as well.

[mayankk]

It was brilliant.
They worked inside out, going by the crunch brought upon themselves.
first the track, pits, and any facilities for the F1 partcipants.
Then the seatings/audience facilities.
Then the approach.
again segregated as to when the public uses it, and when the teams use them.

So, a 100% satisfaction for the teams.
Bravo.
80-90 % for public.
But no complaints.
Since "passes" ala-delhi were not as available, most everybody paid for tix, so we had enthusiastic crowds only, with a spattering of "for the occassion" people.
All good, and all understood the crunch, and hurdles surpasses to bring to bear.

next year will be amazing, when the class shown on trackside reflects on the outside as well.

On raceday, for all who faced diificulties/jams getting out, it wasnt the organizers.
It was cos of the "visitors", from outer space, whose minios deemed it fit to block the short entry slipways to the Yam-e'way for us and force us to use the wrong side of the e'way, getting ON, on an EXIT slipway!

Brilliant,in one word!!

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

I'd like to hear how the fans found it. Jaypee might have satisfied the drivers, media and F1 honchos but what about the fans.

How were the facilities? How was security? Were there long queues due to mismanagement? What about food, beverages and restrooms? Were the stands clean? Big screens working? Anything not yet finished in the stands.

If that was taken care of then it's absolutely brilliant. If not then next year they will have an uphill battle in getting numbers.

I think the whole thing was very well managed.

You could reach the circuit by your own car (provided you had a pass) or the dedicated buses; either of these 2 options take you right up to your particular stand. You could also drive there (without the parking pass), park around 8km away and take the free Shuttle bus. This was the only messy part as supply was less than the demand. And there was terrible amount of loose soil in that area.

You should have seen the signages on the highway; each Block (North/South/East/West/Paddock) had a very clearly mentioned exit on the main Highway. You had to be a fool to get lost.

Around the circuit, each Stand and the corresponding gate were very clearly marked. There were shuttle buses running around the circuit to ferry people. Each Stand had a dedicated and CLEAN restroom area and ample food options. Surprisingly water and beverages were well priced (15 and 20 respectively). Food was on the higher side but still well packaged.

The seats were good and most stands had a LCD in front so you could see whatever was happening. The telecast was what you see on TV. A PAS had live commentary going on.

The police were quite polite (extremely surprising given the history of police here in north India) and so were the ushers.

I think hospitality was pretty good.

Traffic was messy but then around a lakh cars on the road; what do you expect!

I think the only area of concern is the amount of dust; this part of the country has extremely loose soil. By next year, most of the surrounding areas will be landscaped so hopefully the dust should subside.

About crowds for the next GP; I have a feeling, stands will be not be 100% occupied ever. A lot of people came just for the novelty factor (1st GP, premium sport and Delhi has a lot of money etc etc.). So, if tickets are priced the way they were this year, I don't see the same amount of crowds.

All in all, a wonderful experience. I enjoyed every bit of it.