India

Only one day left to the weekend now and there’s still room for a couple more Formula 1 races before the season is over. This time the teams have moved to India, which is a first time visit for Formula 1. Many of the drivers, team members and other people associated with Formula 1 in one way or another are on Twitter and they all seem very excited with everything. Not just the track, but New Delhi and all of India in general.

A lot of great things have been said about the track. The width of the track varies and turn 10 is supposedly one of the most spectacular turns on any circuit. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology - a BlackBerry and the interwebs - it’s possible for us commoners to get a glimpse of the track even before the drivers have had a chance to test their cars there. Trackside Operations Director at Lotus Renault GP, Alan Permane, is an eager Twitterer and has been kind enough to post a lot of pictures from a walk around the circuit. Here are the pictures with his own comments and links to the original pictures:

The track does look a bit dirty, let’s hope they’ll manage to clean it up before practice 1 on Friday. Since the tarmac is brand new, the track will be slippery and the driver’s only experience with the track so far has been simulator driving. It’s a shame that both the drivers and constructors championship are already decided, but we’ve still got the potential for some great driving this weekend. Add the potential for the odd power failure (as reported by several people on Twitter) and disgruntled farmers (whose land was acquired to build the $350-million circuit) to the equation and we might be in for a very dramatic weekend.

As an added bonus, here’s 2011 World Champion Sebastian Vettel taking us through a lap: