What happened to Indian Grand Prix? Will F1 come back to India?

F1 fans all over India are hoping for ir beloved sport to return to country. India hosted three F1 races at Buddh International Circuit from 2011 to 2013 before its gates were reportedly locked by Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA). So, what happened to Indian Grand Prix and why was Indian Grand Prix cancelled?

What happened to Indian Grand Prix? Why was Indian Grand Prix cancelled?

Buddh International Circuit is a racing circuit situated in Greater Noida and was developed by Jaypee Sports Limited, an affiliate of Jaypee Group. circuit originally signed a five-year deal with F1 but 2014 edition was postponed due to a tax dispute between circuit and FIA, with local government classing F1 as entertainment and not a sport. This meant that F1 was required to pay entertainment tax to Indian government, which was reportedly deemed too expensive by F1 organisers. Hence, with subsequent editions also having failed to go ahe it remains to be seen wher F1 will return to India in future.

Is F1 coming back to India? Former F1 Indian racer Karun Chandhok gives his opinion in an interview in 2019

Karun Chandhok, a former F1 driver for Lotus, gave his opinion to Motor Sport podcast in an interview in 2019 on wher he believed F1 will return to India or not. Chandhok said, "Unless government has a change of heart and gets behind sport, I don’t see it happening again. It’s a real shame. re were plenty of opportunities [around event]. race track was on highway to Agra where Taj Mahal is. re’s a lot of opportunities re to have done co-branded events for tourism and things like that but y never quite got that all off ground." Chandhok also explained rising popularity of F1 in India as compared to some or venues on F1 calendar.

"India has, and h, a huge F1 fanbase. When we went to race at places like Istanbul, I remember 2007 being on grid, we looked at grandstand and re were 11 people in. In contrast, first Indian GP h 110,000. It was very, very powerful. Especially first couple of years. And unfortunately, that’s died away as race has gone away. absolute peak of interest in F1, or in motorsport in general, was 2010-2012 because you h Narain [Karthikeyan] and myself who were driving in F1 and Force India h just been taken over, and we h Grand Prix. It’s just a shame that financially, government wasn’t willing to back it," concluded Chandhok.