The much awaited Indian Grand Prix came to an end at Greater Noida’s Buddh International Circuit on 30 October, 2011, with Germany’s Sebastian Vettel wining the maiden race played out from India. Vettel who has already won the last two seasons remained unbeaten for the eleventh time this season.

If speed was the flavour of the season, then the 95,000 spectators corroborated the same. It was definitely the biggest ever turn up at any sports event in Indian history where engines revved to celebrate speed and ruled the crowd. The humungous three-day event witnessed the presence of crème de la crème from every spectrum of the world.

It was hazy sunshine as the cars lined up on the grid. A minute's silence was observed at the start of the race where drivers and team personnel gathered at the front of the grid to remember Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli, who lost their lives at the tracks recently.

The after event party was a glamorous rendezvous with performances by Lady Gaga and DJ Roger Sanchez.

While Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) maintained the top spot, McLaren’s Jenson Button and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso followed Vettel to the finishing line. And the lone Indian team figuring at the race, Sahara’s Force India’s Adrien Sutil secured the 9th slot and our very own Narain Karthikeyan (HRT-Cosworth) finished 17th in the tally.

Formula 1 emerged as the perfect combination of fun and thrill, the two most sought out ingredients for Indian viewers. Formula 1 chief, Bernie Ecclestone comments on the successful outcome by saying, “I'd said before the weekend that we needed three things to make this race a success: Good crowd, media support and a track that the drivers will enjoy. I think India has delivered on all counts.”

Indian Cricketers were present in full attendance. Sachin Tendulkar, self proclaimed F1 fan was there with daughter Sara and wife Anjali to wave the chequered flag to the finishing line and later he caught up with old friend Michael Schumacher. He spoke to the media, “This is a big day for India.” With complete exuberance Tendulkar further added, “I watched every moment of it and thoroughly enjoyed every bit.”

Bollywood was not far behind in showing their support. Deepika Padukone, friend of business magnet Vijay Mallya’s son Siddhartha was there to cheer the Force India team. So was King Khan, Preity Zinta and many other celluloid faces.