Bernie Ecclestone took a little side trip this week to India, where he checked out the circuit for the planned Indian GP next year, and he heaped about 1.75 races worth of praise on the circuit. (The extra 0.75 is left over praise that the Korean GP could never claim.)
The Hindustan Times has Bernie’s happy happy feelings via an AFP story:
“I can’t praise enough,” Ecclestone told reporters late Wednesday after a day-long visit to the under-construction 5.14-kilometre (3.2 mile) circuit in Greater Noida on the outskirts of New Delhi.
“Everything was much better than what I thought. The track is much better than many.”
[snip]
“I had heard about India, I thought that is where we should be,” the 79-year-old said.
“We should have been here before. I am sure F1 would be accepted in India. “It will expose India to the rest of the world. India can get out of the event whatever they want.”
Bernie also clearly was asked about another storyline we followed here: the up and downs of India’s hosting the Commonwealth Games. Not an issue, he said: “There was so much doubt about the Commonwealth Games because of the silly media reports,” he said. “That is why I am here. I saw the opening ceremony on television and it was better than the ones at the Olympics or the World Cup football.”
Always good when Bernie can get in a little swipe at the media.
Everything else aside, at least it sounds like there’s a track there more than about two weeks ahead of the inaugural race. So it has that going for it.
I wonder if Bernie had the time to meet with any potential India sponsors to convince them to get more involved.
