[mayankk]

Originally Posted by chakri400

Does anyone know if we could carry mobile phones into the venue tomorrow? We read somewhere that mobiles are not allowed... Is that true!

Not true.
You can carry your mobiles, even your slr if you want.

[chakri400]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Not true. You can carry your mobiles, even your slr if you want.

Thanks Mayankk! My colleague is visiting and the rumour was a dampener. He called me to check with the t-bhp gurus. Thanks for confirming that it indeed is a rumour 😊

[ecenandu]

Romain Grosjean out in Q1, really bad luck for him. Did you guys know what happened? Did he screw up or was it a team error?

[StarrySky]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

Romain Grosjean out in Q1, really bad luck for him. Did you guys know what happened? Did he screw up or was it a team error?

He stayed on mediums in Q1 when everyone else (except Vettel) used softs. I think Lotus/Grosjean thought they will be quick enough to get to Q2 on mediums, but it didn't work out.

[avi550m]

Finger Boy is again on pole and will most likely wrap up the Driver's Championship tomorrow. Guess I won't be catching it on TV then. Really hope the other teams get their game up for 2014.

Which brings me to this; Why is Sebastian Vettel so hated by at least a section of the fans. I do not remember Schumi being booed during his Ferrari years (well, except the Austrian GP where Reubens conceded victory at the end).

[PAVAN KADAM]

Nice qualifying. Vettel is on the Brink of grabbing the WDC in India

Alonso was furious with his pace and was seen throwing a furious fit in the Pit just before Q2, just remained silent when the cameras came closer to him. Feel sad for Grosjean, what a big Goof-up by the team. Mercedes qualifying form is known to all and they will easily end up P9 / P13 as usual.

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by chakri400

Thanks Mayankk! My colleague is visiting and the rumour was a dampener. He called me to check with the t-bhp gurus. Thanks for confirming that it indeed is a rumour 😊

Carried my tab along as well! Live timing worked right through

[D33-PAC]

Originally Posted by avi550m

Which brings me to this; Why is Sebastian Vettel so hated by at least a section of the fans. I do not remember Schumi being booed during his Ferrari years (well, except the Austrian GP where Reubens conceded victory at the end).

Not sure I speak for the others.

First off let me say I do not deny his skill, however I will say his luck is unbelievable.

So being an ardent fan of Alonso and Hamilton -- who are very talented but have crap luck, it is very difficult for me to digest seeing SV win race after race, year after year whereas guys like Alonso, Hamilton, Kimi have been in F1 way before him but have not had a golden spoon (car).

Some years the car can do great things, some years, it can't.

For the majority of SV's F1 career he has always had a car that has done wonders.

So to see men like Alonso fight year on year since 2001 with crap cars and somewhat mediocre luck that lands them 2 championships whereas their efforts could have equated an easy 5 or 6 WDC's with SV's kind of luck, it hurts.

A lot will disagree but timing, luck, lucky circumstances have much to do with Vettel's success.

If the same guy was born before and entered F1 in 2001, I doubt he'd have even 2 championships.

This is the nature of sport, and really, for much in life, so I agree this is a biased explanation. Some will have privilege some won't ! But what do you do ? It is what it is !

Also, I presume the other fans have some similar feelings as i remember seeing a comment regarding Lewis Hamilton's luck, which was along the lines that he couldn't buy luck even if he had a billion dollars !

[Hatari]

That was an interesting quality. 4 drivers opting to start on the primes. I don't see anyone else but Vettel winning this race though, Bulls setup and working perfectly here. The battle for the rest will be worth seeing finger boy on top again. First stint is key for all.

[zenren]

It'll be interesting to see if drivers can stay within the white line and defend their position when under pressure from faster cars behind, especially on the first stint when we'll have medium and soft compounds across the grid.

Grosjean might start the race on softs to ensure he gains some places and/or at least get some clean air to catch up with the rest of the front runners starting the race on soft compound. With the race pace of Lotus he might be able to gain some places in his second stint before the first stop by the guys on medium and jump them during their pit stops.

Safety car seems to be less likely here considering the huge run-off areas near the turns, which means tyre strategies might be mostly dependent on how teams decide it to be.

[treadmark]

Fernando Alonso believes he has a chance of winning the Indian Grand Prix from eighth place as a result of the "random" soft tyre.

While the top three of Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton will all start the race on the soft tyre, Alonso has chosen the same route as fourth-placed Mark Webber and will start on the mediums. The soft is not expected to last for more than a maximum of ten laps at a slow pace, and Alonso says that opens up his chances of even winning the race.

More than Alonso key person will be Webber. Sebastian Vettel admits Mark Webber could turn out to be a major threat for race victory tomorrow, Webber is the first driver on medium tyres in fourth place.

[julupani]

Personally, I think a bit of a chink has been shown in the BIC this year.

I remember the first year around, many drivers said BIC had one of the best kerbs of any track on the calender. And this year, we have seen the track surface being almost completely dust free right from Practice 1.

These two facts together has meant that drivers have been taking a lot of liberties with the limits of the track. A number of times drivers went completely off the track, on to the astro-turf and still were able to come up with a damn good time. Turn 12 has almost completely been straight-lined by a number of drivers.

Similarly the challenge of the two high speed chicanes, ie Turn 8/9 and Turn 13/14, is considerably reduced if the drivers simply run wide without any significant disadvantage to them. At least running wide at turn 14 seems to upset the car for the difficult downhill braking and cornering at turn 15, but running wide at turn 9 seems to have no downside at all. I remember Webber running completely off the track after turn 9, with all wheels outside the kerbs even, and still come away with a stonking good laptime.

Also, earlier if you did overcook it and ran very very wide you would end up in a gravel trap and could end up causing damaging the car. But with the new tarmac run-off areas, even if you really overcook it there is no significant risk to the car either.

Personally, I dont like this phenomenon of complete disrespect of the white lines. Though the technical director Mr. Whitig doesnt seem to think that there is any advantage gained in terms of lap-time, but I somehow dont buy it. The nature of the track, along with the nature of the astro-turf/kerbs, seems to allow the drivers to gain a bit by running wide at some of the most challenging corners of the track.

But most of all, in my opinion taking the sting out of the most challenging corners of a track, takes the charm out of the whole deal.

Something should be done to encourage the drivers to stay within the lines most of the time. The "orange kerbs" seem to do the trick at the apex of the corners, but something else is needed to prevent drivers from running completely wide like they have been this year. Earlier the dusty nature of the track meant drivers did not want to go off line too much, but this year with most of the dust cleaned up this chink has been exposed.

[khoj]

I had a rather unusual albeit pleasant start to the F1 weekend. A little past midnight received a call from my cousin and the conversation was something like

Cousin > C : Hey, Are you going to the F1

Me >M : Not this time, none of my gang are here this year, so no go

C : Good, then how about accompanying me and Ashvin (my nephew) for the qualifying session tomorrow

I was left intrigued, because last year my cousins along with their wards were in the lower tier of the Grand stand and had to watch the entire race standing up. This had led to a firm, no go decision on any future F1 outings. So how come this turn around.

Me : Sure but what about tickets?

C : I have Paddock access so that is taken care of

Me : What, how ??

C : Was at a Diwali card party and ......rest is obvious

Me : Great, cya then..

C : Bye..

Come morning and we find ourselves at the BIC



Moments later, we are in the Sahara Force India hospitality suite






And then outside in the balcony complete with a fantastic view of the grid, start stop line, pit lane, the podium and what not







Some pit lane action

Alonso or Massa


Cars moving out for one of the qualifying sessions


Toro Roso from the neighbouring pit


Safety Car


Show Off


Our hosts

[khoj]

A Paddock visit cannot be complete without a walk around in the Pit lane

Pit Girls, exclusive to the Force India pit


But then it's not all about glamour, there is serious work involved


Getting the set up right


Ferrari's pit


Red Bull


After the pit walk and a detailed tour of the Force India pit, we returned to the suite for lunch and then watched the Formula MRF race. Look out for a you tube link to the start line action of this race, the video is taking forever to upload.

Grid Girls for the Formula MRF support race


We were all looking forward to the driver's visit to the suite as owing to the small number of visitors could have been almost a one on one session. This however was cancelled and with that we too called it a day.


So all in all while the Paddock suite and pit lane are an unique experience and are highly recommended to be done atleast once, the thrill of the real action can only be had track side. For the BIC I recommend the Star Stand East that can be seen in the background in the snap below. Between yours truly, fellow Bhpian Parimal and the rest of our gang we have over the past two years explored all of the stands at the BIC (Grand stand, Premium North & South, Classic, Picnic, natural). Of all of the stands the SSE located at the end of the long straight that is also the end of DRS zone II has emerged as the best place to catch the action.



I'll see you guys there in 2015

[Maky]

Sebastian Vettel World Champion!

Well as much as I've disliked this mans domination I actually enjoyed seeing him win and celebrate at the very end, perhaps because it's because a world champion has been crowned at my home grand prix. Onto 2014!