India's first F1 weekend has begun! - India Today

With India's first Formula One Grand Prix due to make a screaming start in less than 48 hours, the post-Diwali mood in the National Capital Region was dampened a bit when heavy-metal group Metallica's performance had to be postponed to Saturday evening. (In pics: India's F1 carnival kicks off)

But the Lady Gaga after-party bash on race Sunday near the Buddh International circuit in Greater Noida is on schedule. So far.

This Grand Prix has around Rs 1,000 crore tied to it, including the cost of organising the race and the money being spent by advertisers. For a race that will last for less than 85 minutes, this translates into a spend of Rs 12 crore in 60 seconds!

Almost 80 per cent of the 100,000-odd tickets have been sold so far, an impressive figure considering that the tickets are pretty high-priced for a sport with a limited fan following in India, and the high prices of the tickets (Around 20,000 tickets are priced at Rs 35,000 apiece, while the cheapest ones, at Rs 2,500 each, have been sold out.)

Those who decided to buy tickets after October 20 got a windfall because the organisers decided to offer a race-day ticket to the Grand Stand for Rs 15,000 against the initial offer of a take-it-or-leave-it three-day package for Rs 35,000.

But not everyone has to pay to enter the venue, as a stray dog showed on Friday, when it entered the track during the first practice session, which had to be halted briefly as a result. The mongrel, who declined to reveal his name, also gave the embarrassed organisers some catch-me-if-you-can practice ahead of the big day.

On a more predictable note, while the F1 organisers had not managed to fill the stands, the much-pricier tickets for the after-party concert by pop sensation Lady Gaga near the venue had been sold out. All the concert tickets are priced at Rs 40,000 apiece.

Assocham, the industry lobby, issued a statement presumably aimed at those who have been wondering how Formula One races will help a country with handful of fans of the sport. Assocham said F1 could generate revenues of over Rs 90,000 crore in the next 10 years and create 15 lakh jobs for technical workers.

For now, it is about technical jobs but sales of F1 caps and T-shirts. Sahara Force India, the F1 team co-owned by Subroto Roy of the Sahara group and Vijay Mallya of UB Group, has launched their own edition of merchandise including jackets and deodorants in collaboration with Reebok.

Dheeraj Singh, a villager in Salarpur in Gautam Buddha Nagar district whose two acre plot was acquired for the track, says, "There has been development, but it hasn't created any jobs for us. All the workers were brought from outside. Only thing we can do is to sell milk to the shops that have been started by outsiders."

"We can't even go near it [the track] because of the tight security," says Bhagwan Singh, neighbour of Dheeraj Singh. But Brajesh and Chatharpa, brothers who run a small street-food shop, says their sales had gone up to around Rs 600 a day since the construction work started.

But Formula 1 fans are unlike to drop in for street food, and the brothers fear that the organisers will remove their shop on the bid day. But Brajesh sees a bright side: "I will go to watch the race."

No one has told him about the ticket prices.