WTF Happened To The Indian Grand Prix? 

Seb bowing down before his RB has got to be one of the most iconic images of the V8 era, if not F1 history as a whole.

it literally hurts because i've recently gotten into formula 1 and i live like 10 mins away from the track

After seeing this..... I REALLY hope Josh would do a "What happened to the Malaysian GP?" in the future, and see how would he explain in his own way

MotoGP this year actually had very similar issues around their event. Unclear tax situation and many riders' visas only issued hours before their flights took off, so a return of F1 looks unlikely for the near future, imo at least

I am just happy that Buddh has a permanent place in Seb's WDC history.

Criminally underrated track. Bad Politics, Bad Economics... but what a track - Tilke CAN make bloody good circuits.

Im an Indian and I have been watching F1 since the late 90s and the moment the Indian GP was announced, my thought was "this race won't last more than 4 years". Let's be real; (1) we are not a motorsport mad country let alone F1 (2) most F1 fans in India are casual fans (3) there's no infrastructure for motor racing barring some grade level circuits. The state Governments don't understand the concept of motor racing and will see this event as "rich people thing". Holding a race in India is bound to fail unless we see motor racing as a proper competitive sport.

14:10 'The Rupee plummeting faster than a DC-10 in the seventies' holy fuck that one caught me off guard well done to you sir👏

As an Indian F1 fan, I really appreciate this video. It is just sad how badly the politics fucked it up.

I am from India and live right next to this track and its my favorit. Hopefully f1 comes back

One point I want to bring since you spoke of MotoGP and passports: Some personnel from the MotoGP teams had same issues as F1, or weren’t even able to make it.

I think the FIA needs to stop being so short-sighted with their decisions. Returning to Buddh and Kyalami should be top priority, because both of those places are new markets with over a billion people who could become new fans of Formula 1. In the long run, that would make far more money than another Middle East or USA race, and F1 would be better off for it anyway. Buddh is an amazing circuit, great for both motorcycles and cars, and would make for some very good racing.

Ngl the track itself was FIRE, it would be soo fun to watch the face

The area in Hyderabad where it was supposed to be is one of the most impressive places I’ve ever seen now, compared to what the rest of the city is like it feels like entering a new country

fun fact the current chief minister was the one givin the first place trophy to the winner of this year's motogp race. times have changed and i think india does have a good chance for f1 gp

My only regret as an F1 fan for over two decades has been not being able to attend an Indian GP. Maybe one day in the distant future.

I was at the 2013 GP, next to turn 2 on the grass...easily one of the best days of my life. I was only a measly little seven-year-old, but I remember we couldn't see much of the cars - only what was visible through the barriers. But the sounds, and the smell...it's still burned into my brain. Really hope that F1 returns to India somehow, even if it's an unrealistic dream.

Josh your videos get better and better every year. Please carry on into the new year!

Yo didn’t know they had a moment of silence for Dan Weldon much respect. My first Indy 500 was the one right after his death and they also had a wonderful ceremony and flyover, perfect way to introduce me into the sport

I literally live 15 mins away from the BIC and I wish that Indian GP returns soon as F1’s fan base has been growing in India exponentially 😭😭

Great video, would be amazing to see the Indian GP come back, however, i suspect it may be a long wait sadly.

Going back would be a carbon copy of what happened first time... Taxes and visa trouble. Motogp fell into the same trap this year, with riders nearly not making the Friday practice sessions due to their visas not being ready in time.

Excellent work as always.

Thank you so much for this Video!

9:20 MotoGP is now doing the Grand Prix of India since Buddha International Circuit got cleaned up and upgraded

Absolutely brilliant video!

This video is a masterpiece, so underrated. I've seen many videos on bic and it's drama but none of them explained with this level of details and accurate pronunciation of cities and references like the one of Martin's quoting new delhi. Haha this man knows his job all too well. Love your content.❤❤

Been waiting for this 🥲

what a great research bro

You’re the only “F1 RU-vidr” who makes good content in the off season. Also love your non-F1 content

Also to add the current Uttar Pradesh govt now considers F1 and motosports in general as a legitimate sports so the future of f1 if it ever returns in India is bright

Went on a work trip last week. Stayed at the Jaypee hotel. Really nice place. Looked at going to the track. They seem to hold track days there now and tours but still state the f1 connection

Thank u Josh! For making a video about my country.

Nice video Josh!

big fan here, keep up the good work mate. peace

While the argument that the USA deserves three races due to the size of the country, it is criminal that other countries that should be on the calendar are not. India would be a great addition as would Malaysia (I really miss that track), and the fact that Africa is still not represented at all as a continent is just mind boggling. We cannot push for more races than we already have as that is overkill, but we do need something other than multiple races in one country. That does not matter if it's USA, Italy, Spain or the UK, no country should have more than one race.

If they ever return to this circuit Vettel should be called to serve as grand marshal for the first race. "Pass the torch" to the first person other than himself to take the Indian GP.

The track where Vettel 100% win record still stands

We need a WTF happened to Heikki Kovalainen

One thing that wasn’t mentioned was the hotels. Some MotoGP teams stayed in abysmal conditions and got sick. While others got 5 star hotels but they were like 3 hours away dude to traffic

Buddh was the second phase of Tilke tracks, the first in a long time that was properly good. It had the first iteration of what finally became the COTA turn 1, wonderful solution to a common problem that should be standard on about every track..

I'm watching F1 2011 race of Indian GP ... I am watching almost every race since then!

Merry xmas bud

NOW.. we’re getting somewhere 😂❤ Love your vids Josh! ^^

hope you make another video about korean GP

LOL the DC-10 joke

Finally a video about this beauty of a track. If any track should make a return it's definitely Buddh international circuit

I was 5 when I attended this race and I wish I could’ve remembered it better

Great video!!! Such events must be promoted rather than seeing them as a cash cow...It would really bring in real time inspiration when local talents get real time exposure of their F1 heroes!! Its a sad thing at the end of the day...But on the brighter side, I think Indian Grand Prix would be back soon..

I clearly remember my first f1 race when my dad took me during 2012 season I really wish F1 would race in India again

I am from India I'm sad to see this track gone

F1 still might be able to bring back F1 to India, especially now that Formula E, MotoGP as well as many junior category open wheel championship races are being hosted all over India. However, F1 is hugely focused on having the entire calender of american races. With the new government in charge, they are pushing for reforms and better taxation system. RedBull also hosted their street run with David Coulthard on the streets of mumbai which was a blockbuster. Many and many F1 fans and motorsport fans are showing their interests of being able to host more and more races in India.

Words cannot explain the happiness I felt at this video, I don't understand why F1 doesn't want to give us a 2nd chance but will go for more street circuits while we have a track comparable to Spa

Man, one of the Best reasons to play F1 2013 again is this track. I do it 😂 now is hard to find good tracks in every kind of motorsport, i hope MotoGP opens Buddh to everyone.

Every big country should have f1 race

SEB's Indian RB bow>>>

14:11 underrated joke right there

This layout was fun to play ON the F1 2011－2013 games

As a resident of NOIDA, I SO WANT F1 BACK!!

I love the plane reference

Good video 💯

1:12 Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan & Karun Chandhok .

love this

The stock picture at 4:10 has very weird selection of mics for a press conference.. Four dynamic mics, shure sm58 and sm57 (far right and left), the latter being mostly used for loud instruments like guitar cabinets and snare drums.... The second from right i don't recognize, could be sony, akg... anything really, and then what probably is sennheiser vocal mic, another shure but this time Beta87 (which i do like quite a bit...). None of those would be first choice in a press conference, the beta would probably work, the SM's would definitely not. The selection is more like a "we need some mics" and then grabbing anything from audio department or some sound guys basic toolbox for micing live concert but since they can't all be the same, they took one of each..

I really love that straight

I feel like this track would produce some great wheel to wheel racing so we need to return also there are plans to maybe bring it back for 2025 but I doubt it will happen

great vid

To the point!

Another great episode, thank you!

Tilke borrowed the design of the circuit from the Kyalami grand prix circuit in South Africa

I went to the 2011 race from Bangalore. It was a pain to get to and get out

about damn time

Ah perfect content to watch while having rice and chicken curry.

Also anyone remember when Vietnam had a track for like a couple of months!!

As an indian I feel as if the FIA is not concerned for tapping into the indian audience because of the economics. Revenue generated from EU/USA or Oil countries will outweigh what ever and Indian grandprix will produce. Plus the tickets are way to expensive for a huge majority of the existing indian fans. Tax exemptions from the govt can help this but that is highly unlikely. Furthermore the european and american diaspora which can actually afford the tickets wont be eager to travel half the world (spending more money and time ) to attend the grand prix. If FIA abandons its money hungry attitude and actually plays the long term game like IT companies did (atleast in India) there is some hope. But in the near future I dont think it will be happening.

To me, even if f1 never returns, I'd love india becoming a regular at the moto gp calendar and maybe holding asian le mans or other gt races Motorsport popularity needs to be build from the ground up in this country, and regular events are a must for that

Glad to see the little nod to Mahaveer the Great 😅

I’ve got to admit… and your mileage may vary on this… but one of the things I noticed, and it struck me harder than I’d have really thought something like this would, is just how much I miss seeing the ‘old logo’ of the ‘FIA Formula 1 World Championship’. The newness and novelty of the re-design a few years ago quickly lost any appeal in my eyes, and seeing the older graphic design reopened the box of ‘things I really miss about F1’ that I thought I had safely stowed away in my brain. The logo graphic, leading to all of the on-screen graphics packages during free practices, quali, the GP itself, and so on. Likely because the time period of the logo change also included a deluge of other changes which in retrospect I wish the Good Idea Fairy had just kept to her damned self if I’m honest. Size of the cars, weight of the cars, turbos that murdered the (I don’t know any other word to use than…) JOYOUS scream of the naturally aspirated engines. Along this time period Formula 1 was transformed from a weirdly addictive ‘must-see’ motorsport event… into ‘something else on TV’ that somehow is loosely associated with the notion of motorsport. Sorry to have gone on this boomer-ish tangentially related rant. But, man… I keep having fewer and fewer things about today’s F1 that make me even think about following. I’m down to pretty much just Josh Revell. 😉🤣 The Indian GP surely did seem to go ‘poof’ though didn’t it?!?

Josh, I know you wont see this but if you could make a vidio on the 2017 24h of Le Mans I whould be very happy atleast

Adding in the issue, every state and central government in India have realised the value of sport and the income it generates for them in longer term so I guess tax problem shouldn't be an issue anymore. Other than that as others have rightly mentioned about visa issue faced by a lot of motogp teams as well, I think there's a simple solution to it that teams should apply for visa jointly by hiring a single agency to take care of clearance, though it might cost them a bit more but atleast they wouldn't be bothered by the hassles they faced previously.

I only knew of the Greater Noida track as we saw it 3 times. And it was shown in a local F1 magazine around that time, when there was a lot to do about it. Never knew of that other track. I liked the India track more then the China or Korea one tbh. Too bad we didn't had a Vietnam race, not even once ! I just saw yesterday that Chandhok is co-designer on a new Indian track. Don't know the details.... But Josh didn't you already mention the India GP enough times ? Or is that a miss remembrance on my side ?

As a F1 indian fan I really want a indian gp😢

Have to say it's good that India decided to focus on real issues and invest in something like a useless racetrack and cars running around in circles (as Seb would put it)

I think there is an amount of corruption involved. I read that the Indian customs were demanding huge amounts for tourists (and I presume press photographers) to bring in photographic and/or video gear.

It's quite simple really. Cricket has a lot of political and economical advantage (tickets/viewing is cheap/free) over literally every other sport in India. So it's either going to take a change in the political landscape (not happening anytime soon) or some miracle to make F1 possible in India again

BIC and current F1 cars are a perfect match, it would be an instant classic!

It was a really good track, genuinely miss it

I honestly want to see this circuit host the FIA WEC.

But which circuits do you drop, to fit it in? The only ones F1 seem to keep on short deals a d talk about dropping, are the classic European tracks - and no! To dropping any of them.

Another difference from 2013 and now is there have been a change of government in both Uttar Pradesh and centre

14:01, MotoGP had literallty thje same problem this year, with some of the riders getting a visa literally the day before it all started. Luckily the racing was good though

It would be good if it came back. But it would be greater if they price the tickets right. Unlike the exorbitant amounts they ask usually

Have to admit, from my own experience in the early-to-mid 2010s, the process of applying for a Visa to India for any purpose other than as a tourist was not a very "customer-friendly experience". I am told it's a little better nowadays, to be fair.

My dad received free passes for the 2011 indian gp and asked me to go with my friends. But I was a fool and wasnt an f1 fan at that time so I didn't use those passes. Ohh my luck. Hoping for an Indian gp return. Please God. Make it happen.

F1 in india has come a long way since then. There are so much more f1 fans now (Partly thanks to DTS). If they build an F1 track again in india, I think it'll very well welcomed by the fans

You should do a video about the Vietnamese GP as it should have happened if it wasnt for Covid

FIA needs to scrap Miami and Las Vegas for India and South Africa. We need some actually good circuits with many people who are potential clients.

I hope F1 comes back here..... Specially I want they create a circuit here in Kolkata.....

they needed to give hanoi a second chance, so it could prove itself

14:11 I understood that reference >w>