Thaindian News

Greater Noida, Oct 28 (IANS) Drivers hit the much hyped Buddh International Circuit (BIC) for the first time Friday and despite rising concerns about the dust on the track they gave an instant thumbs-up to the newest Formula One venue.

The teams rolled out their mean machines on the track for the first time with national flags leading their way. Force India’s Adrian Sutil was the first to drive out from the pitlane and the German was followed by Team Lotus’s Indian reserve Karun Chandhok. Next in line were Force India’s Paul di Resta and Indian racer Narain Karthikeyan in the Hispania Racing Team.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel termed the BIC as an interesting track but said it is dusty off-line and staying on the track would be key for the drivers.

“It’s an interesting track, a good challenge. It was very dusty to start with, but the track seems fun, especially the wide entries which give a lot of options to all the drivers. It’s dusty off-line, which makes it tricky, so we’ll have to make sure we stay on the racing line,” he said.

Legendary Michael Schumacher, driving for Mercedes GP Petronas, also complained about the dust and said the circuit has a challenging layout.

“This is a very interesting track with a challenging layout, and it’s certainly enjoyable to drive. As we expected, off-line it is extremely dusty but the racing line became quite grippy over the day,” the German said.

Team Lotus’ Jarno Trulli said: “The track surface developed quickly today and I hope it continues to do so - off-line it’s still very dusty and that could catch out a few people, so let’s see how it evolves over the weekend.”

Colin Kolles, team principal of Hispania, said he was positively surprised with the track.

“They did a really good job with the track within a short time. The down side is the amount of dust all over. For us it has been a positive day. We had a program with Daniel and Narain that we managed to follow perfectly,” he said.