On F1 tracks,Indian officials to guide cars safely to chequered flag

“The marshalls and the officials are the lifeblood of F1. We had requests pouring in from the length and breadth of the country for those keen on marshalling or officiating at the event,” he said.

The officials will be involved in four major track operations: Track intervention to alert drivers,fire rescue,recovery and track clearance,and medical intervention.

Joining the ranks of these officials are some of the leading names in motorsport from Tricity and the adjoining states.

Manali’s Manjeev Bhalla,chairman,Rally Committee of Federation of Motorsport Clubs of India (FMSCI),is one of the stewards for the Indian Grand Prix.

“Stewards ensure that F1 runs strictly as per regulations specified by Federation Internationale de L’Automobile (FIA),the governing body of world motor racing,” he said.

October is going to be a hands-full month for Bhalla,who is also the vice-president of Himalayan Motorsport,the premier motorsport club based in Shimla which organises the Raid De Himalaya. The Raid is running from October 11 to 16.

Part of the core team for the Indian F1 Grand Prix are Hari Singh and Rohitaaz Kumar—both from Tricity.

Hari and Rohitaaz were part of Indian delegation that went as observers to Istanbul in April this year for the Turkish Grand Prix. The duo are also key players in the team organising one of the support races for Formula 1 on October 30—the JK Racing Asia Series.

The Asia series,which also runs in Thailand,Indonesia,China,Malasia and Singapore,will have the same schedule as F1,on the same track in the morning. The F1 is slated for the afternoon.

Hari has won the Indian National Rally Championship five times,and also the Asian Zone Rally Championship,while Rohitaaz has been the national motorcycle rally champion of the country.

Others from the region who will join the league as officials at Formula 1 are Vijay Parmar,president of Himalayan Motorsport; Sunny Sidhu,one of the cross-country motorsport champions in the country; rallyists and motorsports enthusiasts Sunny Kumar,Uday Sidhu,Pankaj Tomar,Mohit Bajaj,Sandeep Malik,Supriya Jogi,Aman Monga,Rohan Rai Sharma,Gurpreet Aulakh and Nikhil Jaspal.