Airtel confirmed naming rights sponsorship of the Indian Grand Prix a few days back, which means that the Indian Grand Prix will now be called as the Airtel Indian Grand Prix.
The Airtel Indian Grand Prix tickets are scheduled to go live today and there’s already a countdown clock running on one of the official ticketing websites. Good vibes as we enter the two month countdown towards the Indian GP. Indian Formula1 fans have been waiting for these tickets ever since the GP was announced. However, there are a few questions that will be raised once the ticket sales go live: 1) What stand is the best? 2) What is the cost? 3) Which stand offers the best view? (Being the most common!)
Here’s my assumption on what stands could offer the best view. Mind you, the names of the stands are not out yet, so I will use Turn numbers to define them.
The official F1 website doesn’t yet have an image with the grandstands so I have used the image from the JPSI website, which does indicate areas and turns where stands can be expected.
Here’s my pick in order of priority: (which could also be most expensive to least expensive!)
– International Pit Straight: these grandstands are located exactly opposite the pit straight and you get a good view of the start of the race as well as the pit stops. You will also get a decent view of the cars as they enter into Turn 1 (right hander) and of course when they exit onto the main straight from Turn 16.
– Turn 3: The stands are located at the exit of Turn 3 and should offer a good view of cars trying to overtake each other.
– Turn 4: This stand is located all along the outside of Turn 4 and should offer an excellent view of the cars braking to enter the corner from over 300kmph. My assumption also is that the long straight between Turn 3 and 4 should be the DRS zone, which means that a seat in this stand shall guarantee you a view of most overtaking moves!
– Turns 5, 6, 7 and 8: Here you will see the cars braking into Turn 5 and negotiating the slow to medium speed Turns 6, 7 and 8.
– Turns 10, 12 and 12: These stands should offer yet another splendid view of F1 cars cornering at medium to high speeds. This section stretches all the way from entry into Turn 10 and exit to Turn 12, however, I don’t think we shall witness much overtaking here.
– Turn 15: This stand is located on the short straight between Turns 14 and 15. View from here would be in the braking and cornering zone of Turn 15.
– Turn 16: The image doesn’t reveal much, but should there be a stand here, one could get a view of the cars braking and entering into the last corner of the Buddh International Circuit.
So what’s my suggestion? If you can afford it, go for the one opposite the pit straight. Next best option is the Turn 4 stands followed by Turn 10 and then Turn 3.
Now here’s my disclaimer: I have used this image to assume the stand locations and hence the best view for the Airtel Indian Grand Prix from! I am certain the organizers will disclose more once the tickets go on sale!
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