Motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

is a popular form of sport in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

for over 100 years.The Federation of Motor Sports Clubs in India (fmsci) is the National governing body for motorsports approved by FIA and FIM. FMSCI, usually written in small caps, is the National Federation that organises nearly a dozen Nationals in various disciplines of motorsport. Some of the popular Indian motorsports Nationals are: Indian National Rally Championship (INRC), Indian National Supercross Championship, Indian National Car Racing Championship, Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship and Indian National Rotax Max Karting Championship. Much before F1 came to India, the country has been organising single-seater Formula races and the Indian National Rally Championship, one of the oldest competitions in the world.

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

has taken off in the country in the 2000s, with two Indian drivers competing making it to the pinnacle of the sport.

Narain Karthikeyan Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan (; born 14 January 1977) is an Indian former racing driver, who competed in Formula One between and . Early life and family background Karthikeyan was born on 14 January 1977 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu to Sheela ...

and

Karun Chandhok Karun Chandhok (; born 19 January 1984) is an Indian former racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One at 11 Grands Prix from to . Chandhok also competed in Formula E for Mahindra Racing. Previously, Chandhok has competed fo ...

are first two F1 drivers from India, in that order. The first-ever Formula One Indian Grand Prix took place in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, at the

Buddh International Circuit The Buddh International Circuit is an Indian motor racing circuit situated in Jaypee Sports City, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The track shares its name with Gautama Buddha, as does the Gautam Buddha Nagar district, district of its location. ...

. The Formula One team, Force India Formula One Team Limited, founded and managed by Indian businessman

Vijay Mallya Vijay Vittal Mallya (born 18 December 1955) is an Indian businessman and a former politician. He is the subject of an extradition effort by the Indian Government to return him from the UK to face charges of financial crimes in India. His last ...

, is registered as an Indian outfit. The team based at

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England. The village is about south-southwest of Towcester and northeast of Brackley, both accessed via the A43 road, A43 main ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

competed in F1 for ten consecutive seasons starting from

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

–

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

. The team's highest position in the Formula One Constructors Championship was fourth in the 2016 season. The Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India is the official governing body of motorsport in the country. India riders also competed in the Moto GP, Moto 3 class with

Mahindra Racing Mahindra Racing is a motor racing team based in Banbury, England, competing with an Indian racing license. It is part of the Mahindra Group. The team is currently competing in the electric FIA Formula E Championship and has been since the inaugu ...

. Mahindra were based in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and held an Indian licence. Sarath Kumar is the first Indian to ride in the MotoGP Moto3 class. Two Powerboating F1H2O Grand Prix of India took place in Mumbai and Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. The first in Mumbai was held in 2004 while the last Grand Prix took place in 2018 in Vijayawada, near Amaravati. Since 2018, a team named Amaravati competed until 2019 with driver Jonas Anderson finishing the season with equal total points (36) to the 2019 World Champion American Shaun Torrente. The title of "World Champion" was given to Shaun Torrente instead of Jonas Anderson on count back of podium results. Shaun obtained more 2nd positions during the season.

History

On 1 February 2005,

became India's first

racing driver. In March 2007, he also became the first ever Indian-born driver to compete in a

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

Series. He debuted in the NASCAR

Camping World Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck-based stock cars. The series i ...

in the

Kroger 250 Stock car racing events in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series have been held at Martinsville Speedway, in Ridgeway, Virginia during numerous seasons and times of year since 1995. Spring race The Boys & Girls Club of the Blue Ridge 200 is a NA ...

. Force India F1 is a

motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

team. The team was formed in October 2007, when a consortium led by

n businessmen

and Michiel Mol bought the

Spyker F1 The Spyker F1 Team, known as the Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team for sponsorship reasons, was a Formula One team that competed in the 2007 Formula One World Championship with a Dutch licence. It was created by Spyker Cars after their buyout of t ...

team for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

88 million. After going through 29 races without a point,

Force India Force India Formula One Team Limited, commonly known as Force India and later Sahara Force India, was a Formula One racing team and constructor based in Silverstone, United Kingdom, with an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 200 ...

won their first Formula One World Championship points and podium place when

Giancarlo Fisichella Giancarlo "Giano" Fisichella (; born 14 January 1973), also known as Fisico or Fisi, is an Italian racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Fisichella won three Formula One Grands Prix across 14 seasons. Bo ...

finished second in the

2009 Belgian Grand Prix The 2009 Belgian Grand Prix (officially the 2009 Formula 1 ING Belgian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 30 August 2009 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, near the village of Francorchamps, Wallonia, Belgium. It was the 12th race ...

. New Delhi hosted the Indian Grand Prix in 2011 at

Greater Noida Greater Noida is a planned city located in the Gautam Buddha Nagar district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city was created as an extension of the area under the ''UP Industrial Area Development Act, of 1976''. Situated southeast ...

, 50 km from

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

. In the

2011 Formula One season The 2011 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 65th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. The original calendar for the 2011 Formula One World Championship consisted of twenty rounds, including the inaugural running of the Indian Gran ...

was the test driver for

Team Lotus Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport categories including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, American Championship Car Racing, Ind ...

was the test driver for HRT. Both Chandhok and Karthikeyan stepped in (for

Jarno Trulli Jarno Trulli (; born 13 July 1974) is an Italian former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Trulli won the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix with Renault in Formula One, Renault. He regularly competed in Formula ...

and

Daniel Ricciardo Daniel Joseph Ricciardo ( , ; born 1 July 1989) is an Australian racing driver, who most recently competed in Formula One from to . Ricciardo won eight Formula One Grands Prix across 14 seasons. Born and raised in Perth to Italian-Australi ...

, respectively) at the 2011 Indian Grand Prix; it was the first time two Indian drivers compete in the same Formula One Grand Prix. In December 2013,

joined the

FIA Formula E Championship Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is an open-wheel single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The racing series is the highest class of competition for electrically powered single-seater racing cars. ...

. For the first season in 2014–15,

drove alongside

Bruno Senna Bruno Senna Lalli (; born 15 October 1983) is a Brazilian former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . In endurance racing, Senna won the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMP2 class with Rebellion. Born and raised ...

. Mahindra finished 8th in the Teams Championship. The Indian driver left the team after the first season, and was replaced by

Nick Heidfeld Nick Lars Heidfeld (; born 10 May 1977) is a German former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Born and raised in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, Heidfeld began competitive kart racing aged 11. He progressed to Formu ...

. On 17th January 2022, the city of

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

signed a letter of intent with the FIA, making them a potential new E-Prix for the 2022-2023 Formula E season. On 11 February 2023, Hyderabad hosted its first ever Hyderabad E-Prix at Hyderabad Street Circuit. Jaguar FE Team's driver

Mitch Evans Mitchell William Evans (born 24 June 1994) is a New Zealand professional racing driver. He currently (since 2016) drives for the Jaguar Racing, Jaguar TCS Racing team in Formula E. In 2012, he won the GP3 Series and he raced in the GP2 Serie ...

took pole position but the win was taken by the

DS Penske DS Penske (formerly Dragon Racing) is an auto racing team that is involved in many areas of motorsport. The team is based in the United States, but once competed under a French license. DS Penske was founded in 2007 as Dragon Racing by Americans ...

driver

Jean-Éric Vergne Jean-Éric Serge Raymond Vergne (; born 25 April 1990), also known by his initials JEV, is a French racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Peugeot and in Formula E for DS Penske. In formula racing, Vergne compete ...

. Motorcycle motorsports world championship

MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the highest class of motorcycle road racing events held on Road racing, road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held sin ...

is also decided to make its debut in the country at the Buddh International Circuit, which hosted three Formula One Grand Prix's in the past as discussions have already been held between the Indian Motorsports Federation and the

Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme The International Motorcycling Federation (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme) or (FIM) is the global governing/sanctioning body of motorcycle racing. It represents 123 national motorcycle federations that are divided into six continent ...

(FIM), for the Grand Prix of Bharat MotoGP in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

. It is expected that India being the largest market for two-wheeler vehicles in the world, can hence be an attraction for International Motorcycle racing in the country and can gain a lot of public response and attention.

Venues

, Noida * Cholavaram Airstrip, Chennai * Madras Motor Race Track, Chennai *

Kari Motor Speedway Kari Motor Speedway is a purpose-built Formula Three auto racing circuit or race track, located in Chettipalayam, Coimbatore, India. The long track was inaugurated in 2003. The circuit is named after S. Karivardhan. History Part of the ex ...

, Coimbatore * CoASTT High Performance Centre, Coimbatore * Hyderabad Street Circuit, Hyderabad * Chennai City Circuit, Chennai * Bren Raceway - FIA Grade 2 Racetrack, Bengaluru

List of National Sports award recipients in Motor Sports, showing the year, award, and gender

References

{{Sport in India

History

Venues

List of National Sports award recipients in Motor Sports, showing the year, award, and gender

See also

References