Thaindian News

Greater Noida, Oct 27 (IANS) The drivers gave a thumbs up to the Buddh International Circuit after their first look at it Thursday. The only concern they have is dirt on the unused track which they hope is cleaned by the race day of the inaugural Indian Grand Prix Sunday.

Most of the 24 drivers had done several laps of the 5.14 km track on the simulators but got the actual feel of it Thursday morning.

The drivers rated the layout of the track as “interesting” and were particularly impressed with the long straight, going into turn three and mixture of high and low speed corners.

Sahara Force India’s Adrian Sutil found the track “very dusty” and said it would be interesting how it changes from the first practice session.

“I went around the circuit in the morning and it all looked finished. The track has a interesting look, but it is dusty and dirty. So, we will have to see how it will look at the first practice session Friday,” said Sutil at the drivers’ first press conference of the Indian Grand Prix.

The other five drivers to have media interaction were Mercedes GP’s Michael Schumacher, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, Williams’ Rubens Barrichello, Team Lotus’ Jarnos Trulli and India’s very own Narain Karthikeyan for Hispania Racing Team.

Trulli concurred with Sutil and hoped the organisers clean the track.

“The circuit itself looks pretty good, the organisers must be really proud about such a world-class facility. Obviously, the question mark is about dust and dirt. I have been around cycling this morning and it was very dusty. I hope they can clean it in quick time,” said Trulli.

Seven-time world champion Schumacher had a busy time handling the media, but when he got the time to see the track, the German was quite impressed.

“I think they have done a very nice job. I saw the safety car running around the circuit and saw the elevations change, some blind spots. It looks like a challenge for us with quite a bit of high and low speed corners,” said Schumacher, adding that he will make a fair judgement of the track only after he drives Friday.

Karthikeyan, the lone Indian driver on the grid, was overwhelmed with the ocassion.

“I did not think that I would be racing in India, but it is just around the corner. The feeling that I would get while doing the first few laps tomorrow is hard to explain.”

On the track, Karthikeyan said: “The circuit is wide in some places. I am sure you will see different lines on the track over the three days, suggesting a lot of overtaking. It is a very challenging circuit with lots of run-off areas.”

(Bharat Sharma can be contacted at bharat.s@ians.in)