Buddh International Circuit will be inspected by FIA on September 1

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The International Automobile Federation (FIA) will inspect the Formula One Indian Grand Prix race track on September 1. Time Left in the first ever Indian Grand Prix Formula One Race at Buddh International Circuit, Greater Noida - Less Than 85 Days...

The FIA team led by race director Charlie Whiting will have to give clearance to the 5.14 km Buddh International Circuit (BIC) in Greater Noida.

FMSCI president Vicky Chandhok said the FIA team will first visit the circuit for Korean Grand Prix and then come to India. The race in Korea (Oct 14-16) will take place two weeks before the Indian GP.

“We have been sending reports to the FIA on fortnightly basis and they are completely satisfied with the progress,” said Vicky Chandhok, president of the Federation of Motorsports Clubs in India.

“Actually the final inspection was scheduled for the first week of August and the track was ready for it. But FIA’s technical director Charlie Whiting confirmed that he will be coming to New Delhi only on August 31.”

While garages, pit buildings, grand stand, hospitality area and media centre were completed on schedule, the final layer of the tarmac, known as weathering course, will only be laid in mid September.

“The basic track is ready with kerbs and tecpro barriers in place. The FIA-appointed German consultants who are camped at the track advised the promoters to lay the final layer some 45 days before the event. After that, as a dry run, a round of the JK Tyre National Racing Championship will be held to check the operation of the track,” Chandhok added.

Chandhok said the complete facility at the Jaypee Sports Village with all the luxury areas will be ready only by next year. “The fifth storey of the hospitality and an exclusive restaurant for the media will be completed later,” he said.

The work at the circuit is still in progress with a little over two months left for the country's biggest event since the Commonwealth Games last year.

While Chandhok was quick to deny that homologation was moved to September due to the pending work around the circuit, a source in JPSI said the FIA changed the date as they wanted to inspect the track in dry weather.

The JPSI official claimed that the all the work around the circuit will be completed by the second week of next month.

The BIC will cost approximately $400 million to the organisers.

Earlier Visits to the Track by F1 Important Persons -

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone himself inspected the circuit progress (Oct, 2010) and told that "The Indian Grand Prix track at Noida was well on course for completion for the next year October 30 race and it would not be a cause of concern like the controversy-marred build-up to the Commonwealth Games".

Charlie Whiting (Apr, 2011) visited the circuit and inspected the progress. Charlie Whiting is FIA Formula One race director, a fellow of the FIA Institute and the individual ultimately responsible for ensuring that all F1 circuits on any given season’s calendar meet the strict safety standards needed to satisfy homologation requirements - the governing body’s seal of approval. He had recommended some amendments, also satisfied with track progress but lot of work still to be completed as he claim.

The organisers Jaypee Sports International (JPSI) claimed that work is in full swing and the track will be completed by the second week of September for the inaugural race scheduled for October 28-30.

The venue has been hit by numerous delays since building work got underway last year, but organisers are determined that there will be no repeat of the farce that surrounded the first-ever Korean GP, where the circuit was still being completed even as F1 teams prepared to take to the track. India failed to cover itself in glory ahead of last year's Commonwealth Games, but the infrastructure at the Buddh International site in Greater Noida is in the hands of privateer firm Jaypee, rather than government-appointed contractors, and the company insists that the latest dispute, involving farmers forced to give up land in the surrounding area, will not have a major impact.