It was a near flawless show and the Indian promoters, Jaypee Group, were no less efficient.
The Formula One Management (FOM), which is vested with the task of organising 20-odd races in a season, showed why they are such a succeessful bunch of top class pros.
Th caravan left the country winding up everything in hours after the race. It is no mean job to shift some 600 tonnes of cargo, comprising sophisticated equipment, arrived a week before Sunday’s race. Incredibly, it was all neatly packed within five hours after the show, ready to fly to the next port of call of the F1 circuit Abu Dhabi.
Jaypee Group deserves a mention for playing their part well, but they would not have been able to pull it off without the support of the FOM, headed by Bernie Eccletsone and the International Automobile Federation (FIA).
The Indians are still learning the ropes of organsing mega sporting events. There as no last-minute scramble and all those involved in the organisation of the historic event were on their toes from the word go.
FOM not only controlled the 60-lap race, it also helped the security officials and local media on putting things together.
"Eveything is controlled by the F1 officials. We have worked so hard in the run up to the event but now we feel we have no role to play in it. They are thorough professionals without a doubt, but I would call them a touch rigid as well.
They don’t want to listen to anyone. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why they do it so well,” said a media representative of the Jaypee Sports International (JPSI) about the parking tickets in the sprawling complex.
His answer was expected: "The FOM and FIA had decided to give limited parking tickets to avoid chaos and we can't do much about it."
The media, too, had to operate under strict restrictions. The media personnel had access to team buildings and the entire paddock area, but the VIP lounge located above the paddock was a restricted zone. No amount of posturing from the enthusiastic reporters to get a glimspe of the high-profile gathering would help.
The race day started with the Who's Who of India and the motorsports world arriving to be part of one of the country's biggest sporting events.
The FOM's and respective team’s professionalism was best summed up at night when they had almost packed everything that was in the team garage five hours after Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel became the first one to to cross the chequred flag waived by none other than cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar.
