Hotels in New Delhi and its suburbs are filling up their rooms this week at the highest rates in four years as tourists flock to the capital city for India’s first Formula One race and a Lady Gaga performance. Taxis, cabs, travel all look the only way for the weekend towards Noida, Buddh International Circuit (BIC). This year inspite of the festival lights just a day away, the country is gearing up to launch a mega event. The hype for the event has risen so high that the celebrations for Diwali have taken a back seat.
The news from the formula- 1 quarter is that the Sahara team has flagged off in jubilant celebrations, yesterday. Rallying the spirits of a billion Indians, the Sahara Force India Formula One Team flagged off, on Monday, the Raise The Flag campaign in Lucknow with Ms Swapna Roy, Deputy Managing Worker, Sahara India Pariwar, wishing the team good luck. Ms Roy flagging off the signature campaign wrote 'Good Luck Sahara Force India' at a simple function organized at a city Mall here.
India's first Formula One driver Narain Karthikeyan said he was excited to drive in front of his home crowd at the BIC in India's inaugural Grand Prix. A once in a lifetime experience and I feel extremely fortunate. There is a huge buzz around the Grand Prix already and I’m sure that it’ll be a resounding success that will motivate more youngsters towards the sport and give us the future F1 drivers.
Force India driver Adrian Sutil Monday maintained that Formula One has managed to stay safe since the fatal crash of Brazilian Ayrton Senna in 1994. Safety standards have improved but Formula One can be dangerous as well. Driving at 300km/hr can be dangerous but we have safe cars and circuits.
Meanwhile TI Cycles of India, the leading bicycle manufacturer, part of the USD 3.8 billion Murugappa Group, on Monday announced India’s leading F1 Racer Karun Chandhok as their official brand ambassador for Montra.
The F1 race will be followed by a performance by Lady Gaga in her Indian singing debut at the closing ceremony. Gaga will perform on the last day, while international DJs Roger Sanchez will perform on day one, Edward Maya second day and Tom Navy on day three.