Ah India, a county full or vibrancy, colour and cultural immersion - so much so that even the track is a wash with different paints and patterns - if you are going to have acres of run-off may as well spruce it up a bit. Therefore it is such a shame that this nation and this venue looks set to vanish from the calendar, there is even a court intervention to decide whether the race on Sunday is cancelled - but with such short notice I can see that motion disappearing rapidly into a series or arguments behind the scenes as the racing goes ahead, some complaint to do with taxation or other financial and legal stuff. In reality I see this 'case' like others have said on the internet to be merely a nuisance and nothing more will come of it, so I wouldn't create other plans for Sunday quite yet.
Conflicts between the organisers and the local population have prevented this event being so much more than it has shown in it's brief time on the calendar. A brilliant idea poorly executed. Just to add insult to injury, in all likeliness this will be the final race of the season where the championship is not mathematically decided - all Vettel needs to do is turn up in effectiveness, because in order to keep the battle alive Fernando need to take 16 points off Sebastian this race. The probability of that happening is slim to none at best, the last time Alonso forged such a points gap in a race was 2012, when the cars were more equal. This year, not a hope in hell. It just means that the interest focusses elsewhere while Vettel is off winning everything, a Sauber resurgence makes the mid-field fun and Lotus vs Ferrari vs Mercedes for second in the constructors is going to be a titanic battle.
In other, surprising news Toro Rosso have announced that Ricciardo's replacement will be Daniil Kvyat from Russia - which has spawned a plethora of conspiracy theories of Russian backing and various money vs ability arguments. The general opinion was that Felix Da Costa would get the drive, on account of being the next Red Bull development driver in the highest feeder series FR3.5. But that's not what Red Bull are looking for - not just the next chap in line, but someone to emulate Vettel's pace - it is very early days on Kvyat but at the back end of the season he has been rather fast, turning up in different championships and winning races... something Vettel would do. I remember a FR3.5 race weekend in Italy where Vettel competed as a guest driver and demolished the field first time out. Kvyat is not quite at that standard but could be a very interesting prospect. The concern is that the transition may be too early GP3 to F1... but Bottas and Gutierrez made the same jump as did Raikkonen (sort of FR2.0 to F1) and we all know how that worked out...
The Track
Over recent years anything that arrives on the calendar with the Tilke 'seal of approval' receives a battering of insults from us folk sitting on our sofas... a lot of the time justifiably - Abu Dhabi has a lot to answer for as well as Korea and Bahrain. But this one is much better, it arrived in 2011 with a more innovative take on the layout, not just the surrounding superficial architecture. Introducing widening apexes for overtaking, elevation changes, interesting corners - and for the first time in one of these new era tracks there was a flow to the layout. Yes it was artificially created and there is that unnecessarily long straight in the first sector, but you can never have another Suzuka or Spa so on balance it's not too bad for a Tilke era venue.
The first sector of the lap starts with a sequence or corners that bear a resemblance to a mirrored version of Istanbul's turn one - another of the rare Tilke successes which also fell off the calendar... The exit is a steep uphill curved climb to a hairpin at the crest - a hill that seemed rather tall until Austin placed a mountain at the end of the main straight... but that's Texas for you. Out of the hairpin comes the main gripe about the new era layouts - built solely to accommodate DRS and KERs. The problem is that these gadgets may not be with us forever, so the track only becomes valid for a narrow window of time. Look at Indianapolis it rode a wave of popularity and vanished, while Suzuka, Silverstone and Interlagos continue.
Once all the obligatory DRS compliant straights and hairpins are done. The track has the freedom to do what it wants and the first thing it wants to be is a double apexed medium speed corner that turns into a chicane. Looking at the additional roads for alternate layouts it looks silly, but in reality it works out alright similar to Imola's Aqua-minerale, just without the elevation change there. Following this the layout sweeps through another chicane with Massa's favourite kerbs - another example he is able to have the same accident twice in one weekend. The piece-de-resistance of the middle sector is the gigantic bowl corner thing, which just tightens enough on the exit - not to much to be annoying (take not Sepang) but to make the corner interesting. One of the consistent themes with the Indian circuit is there are subtleties to the layout which aren't often noticed but make it stand out from the other Tilke laps.
Because 1.5 quick chicanes wasn't enough the bowl turn is followed by another one, with more Ferrari smashing kerbs, but slightly tighter than the first kicks off the final sector heading towards turn 15. This seems like an ordinary medium speed corner but the road completely falls away on the exit plunging the cars into a steep descent towards the final corner, making the car go a little light on the exit and increasing the chance of some oversteer and a visit to the inside barrier. After all that entertainment it is a shame to come to the final corner to find that there is a generic hairpin stuck on the end of the lap - but it is there allegedly to promote overtaking into turn one. Although it is entirely possible we will see more passes into the final corner itself and then use the DRS to increase the advantage for a safer run into the next lap.
The Form Guide
Well although this is only a third (and final) visit to the Indian GP, a certain German bloke has retained a 100% winning record here and given the current run of form it would be difficult to assume that is going to change this weekend. Therefore the battle again becomes for second place between Ferrari, Lotus and Mercedes, a battle which could be very close indeed, while Webber may end up in no-mans land between the two and could end up anywhere from 2nd down to the end of the train. Based on the previous races you'd have to imagine that Grosjean and Lotus are set to do well, especially as it is expected to be a rather warm race and the folks down at Lotus like a warm GP.
Sauber are now the team to beat in the mid-field engulfing McLaren as car updates and the new tyres have significantly improved their pace recently, so much so that even Gutierrez can score points. The timing of the is resurgence will not go down well with the local crowd, if there is one, because falling in the opposite direction is their home favourite Force India. The effective home team-ish may well see themselves duelling with Williams for the bottom of the mid-field staring at the back of the Toro Rossos and miles away from Sauber and McLaren.
Down at the back of the field you would assume that Caterham would have the measure of Marussia, but somehow in Japan both of the green cars were beaten by Max Chilton - perhaps Max has realised that there is a chance he may be replaced in 2014 and his money might not quite be enough. Because there could easily be folk out there with more money and more speed - perhaps the additional pressure might help, or Japan might have been a fluke, who knows.
This very well be our final visit to India if the track can't find a space on the 2015 calendar after it's year out, and if that frivolous attempt to cancel the race wins through we'll have the first championship won in court for tax reasons... India is a wonderful addition to the season bringing cultural diversity to the championship but over the past couple of seasons tracks under threat have produced brilliant farewell events. Take Valencia for example, removed from the calendar for financial reasons and for being a horrible circuit, put on a fantastic race in 2012, Korea this season also under threat from being in 2014 also put forward a much improved spectacle. Based on that record India should be excellent and it certainly deserves to be.
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