Covering F1 – everyone trying to find their feet in this new sport

Covering the first ever Formula One race in India is quite a novel experience, not to mention an uphill task. Uphill, because no one really has any clue about this sport except for having seen it on TV, enjoying the champagne baths the winning drivers like Sebastian Vettel regularly take right after victory.

However, the sport itself is nothing less than an intense, mostly unfathomable, research and development project which might compete well with NASA. It is head and shoulders above aeronautics and takes a whole lot of technical aids from medical instruments. So, you have ultrasound machines to check the fitness of cars and endoscopy camera-mounted tubes to get into the otherwise unreachable recesses of, say, a fuel tank.

Not many may know but a whole lot of car manufacturers would die to have their spare parts tested on F1 cars, and many of them actually do, like Mercedes for one. In that context, to get into the insides of this highly skilled and mechanically mind-boggling sport is a difficult proposition.

So, in that sense the all-pervasive naivete around the circuit is explainable and, in a sense, relieving. Be it the majority of the Indian media, the organisers, the accreditation personnel, or even the racers themselves — everyone is struggling to find his feet on the Indian leg of this Grand Prix.

For one, it was stunning to know, that one has had to commute on clogged roads almost 120 km a day to and fro — only to be told that the media is not allowed to watch the race from any of the stands — the media centre, with giant screens would be enough! So you wonder how is it different from watching the race on live TV? No one really knew if this is a norm with F1 circuits all over the world. A journalist from Italy who has covered almost all legs all over the world tells you that “yes it is a bit strange but that’s the way it is for the F1 media everywhere.” Even the accreditation card classification is different — accessibility to the garage and pit areas where the team heads and racers can be found depends on the number of F1 races you have covered. If you are a veteran, you get a red card which means more access.

Most Indians, however, have a green card which means restricted only to the media centre, Press conference area and the paddock. To me, seeing it on the giant screen looked really ridiculous, considering here I was spending close to three hours on the road, fighting road rage due to constant traffic, to reach the circuit and then just watch TV! It was like going to Chennai to cover a World Cup cricket match and then be told by ICC that here’s the TV for you, sorry no media seat facing the ground! But then as I talked to others, my fury and shock receded though I still could not fathom why the media couldn’t get some stand seats, if they so wished.

It is another matter though that the constantly obliging Indian organisers tell you quietly that you can go on the terrace and stand and watch a part of the track during the race. Not a bad view, though one wonders why Jaypee could not have been really Indian — and consequently different — by providing a more innovative media intervention. A highrise viewing tower would have been fantastic really, would have wowed the international media, the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and of course been a trendsetter. The international media though is highly impressed by the bigness and technological expertise of the media centre itself.

One really does not know, however, whether a restrictive and conservative FIA would have allowed this but if it had, this would have been quite something. Not that the giant TV screens in the media centre are no help. They give you focus, constantly changing data, speed limits as they happen, car problems, and even radio messaging between a racing driver and his race engineer. The stands only give you a view of a small part of the track, and really, the cars whizz past you even before you can blink.

A word about co-ordinating coverage. Knowing how new it will be for most journalists here, the FIA co-ordinated Press conferences in a manner we haven’t experienced while covering other sports. One must concede it was a huge help, because one really did not know how to go beyond the questions of the dust and the grime on track. In all media interactions co-ordinated by the FIA, an FIA media spokesperson first questions the drivers about everything with all the media listening. It is only after that that the questioning is thrown open to the Press. This gives direction and order to the proceedings. Other than that, there is no one-on-one and all media is instructed to ask no similar questions.

Jenson Button once walked off when an Indian TV journalist repeated a query, just answered by him to her rival TV scribe. The PR was later heard explaining to her that all Press is essentially a group activity and there’s no scope for exclusives in between circuit activity so she should learn to share — something that her Indian bosses would have sacked her for!

These are, of course, some thoughts on this new entry into the Indian sports horizon. The immediate concern is how will a hundred thousand people reach the circuit of the main race on Sunday, considering that it took close to four hours on Saturday when there was only one fourth traffic to watch the qualifiers? One question, one problem which will never be addressed, doesn’t matter how swank and broad the Yamuna Expressway is — it still falls narrow for the amount of cars we have on our roads! That could perhaps be the reason Chief Minister Mayawati may not be coming — too much wastage of time being stuck — and a nightmare for others if she gets VIP movement passage!

But then, there’s the helipad and one hopes it is put to use ferrying VVVIPs, so that common commuters don’t have to fight VVVIP movement on the road to the circuit

Source: The Sunday Pioneer, 30 October, 2011