New Delhi, Oct 18: As the excitement builds up for the second edition of The Indian Grand Prix, let's have a look at the history behind the F1 race that came to India last year.
Indian Grand Prix is held at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. The first event took place on 30 October 2011 as the 17th race of the 2011 Formula One season.
The new race track was officially homologated on September 1, 2011 by Charlie Whiting, and the inaugural race was won by Germany's Sebastian Vettel.
The history of Indian Grand Prix started as early as 1997, when there were plans to host an Indian Grand Prix in Kolkata.
In 2003, India had only two permanent raceways, one in Chennai (Irungattukottai), and Kari Memorial Speedway in Coimbatore. At that time two 600 acres (2.4 km2) sites in the vicinity of the Bangalore airport were examined.
Also, in the state Andhra Pradesh, the then chief minister Chandrababu Naidu reserved 1,500 acres (6.1 km2) of land near the airport at Hyderabad.
