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| Buddh International Circuit |
New Delhi: India plays host for the 17th round of the 2012 Formula One
World Championship with teams arriving in New Delhi and making their way to
Greater Noida and the impressive Buddh International Circuit. With only three
races to follow, India marks the beginning of the endgame in the race for
Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship glory.
The debut of the Indian Grand Prix was perhaps the highlight
of the 2011 season. Buddh proved to a fast, flowing and highly demanding race
track, complete with memorable corners and several good overtaking
opportunities. This was supplemented by an excited and knowledgeable crowd who
replicated the general high level of enthusiasm with which the Indian public
greeted Formula One.
Replacing last year’s great leap into the unknown, F1’s
second visit to Buddh is heralded by keen anticipation from those drivers who
raced here last season. The high-speed turns proved an instant hit, and having
had a year to mature the surface is likely to deliver even more grip this time
around Ð though potentially at the cost of greater tyre wear.
Kimi RŠikkšnen and Lewis Hamilton, respectively third and
fourth in the Drivers’ Championship are quoted as having all-but written off
their title aspirations for this year, in effect making the 2012 Drivers’
Championship a two-horse race between Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel and
Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso. With a clean sweep of three victories from the
recent races in Singapore, Japan and South Korea, momentum is clearly with
Vettel, who now leads Alonso by six points. Alonso, however, has stayed in the
hunt all year despite having his chances of a third world championship
dismissed by many even before the season began. With 100 points still on the
table, he won’t be conceding anything just yet.