INDIAN GRAND PRIX 2013

The Indian Grand Prix also known as Airtel Indian Grand Prix for sponsorship reasons is a Formula 1 race in the calendar of the FIA Formula One World Championship, currently being held at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida near New Delhi. The first event took place on 30 October 2011, as the 17th race of the 2011 Formula One season. The inaugural race was won by Germany's Sebastian Vettel, who thus far is the only driver ever to win the Indian Grand Prix. Jaypee Sports International Limited is the organizer of Formula 1 race in India and has signed a five-year contract with Formula One Management (FOM) to host the championship in India. The next edition is scheduled to take place on 27 October 2013. In August 2013, FIA announced that the Indian Grand Prix will be discontinued in 2014 before returning to an early season slot in 2015.

The track has some similarities with other new tracks designed by Herman Tilke, but it also has some distinctive features, not least quite a bit of elevation change; the track rises 14 metres from Turn 1 to Turn 3, which contributes to increasing the fuel weight penalty, in other words the weight of every 10kg of fuel you carry slows you down by more than at some other tracks.

Buddh is a combination of mostly slow speed corners and some long straights, which leads to a reasonably high average speed. The first sector of the lap is stop-start, with two straights intercut with hairpins, while the middle sector is a flowing section featuring some faster corners, including the banked Turn 10/11.

TRACK CHARACTERISTICS

Track length : 5.125 kilometres
Race distance : 60 laps (307.249 kilometres)
Corners : 16 corners in total
Average speed : 210 km/h
Aerodynamic setup : High downforce
Top speed : 323km/h (with DRS open) 310km/h without
Full throttle : 70% of the lap time
Total fuel needed for race distance : 161.6 kilos (high)
Fuel consumption : 2.65 kg per lap (ave)
Brake wear : average
Total time needed for a pit stop : 21 seconds
Fuel effect (cost in lap time per 10kg of fuel carried) : 0.35 seconds (ave/high)

WEATHER FORECAST

The forecast for the weekend is stable with temperatures likely to be high; between 29 and 31˚Cs and track temperatures up in the 40˚Cs. No rain is forecast.

TYRES

Pirelli tyre choice for India: Soft (yellow markings) and medium (white markings). Strategy wise last year was a bit flat as the tyre choice was too conservative and everyone stopped just once, This year Pirelli has brought the soft and medium tyres and this should make for a fascinating strategic battle like the one we saw last time out in Japan.

DRS

There are two DRS zones at the Buddh International Circuit. The detection point of the first is 16m before Turn Three and its activation point is 350m after Turn Three. The second zone’s detection point is 10m after Turn 15, with the activation point 36m after Turn 16.

SAFETY CAR

As this is only the third race on the track and there was no safety car so far, the probability is yet to be established. A Safety Car at Buddh would help drivers attempting to make one less stop.

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