India looks set to bow out of formula one amid a flood of bad press, as it emerges McLaren mechanics have been armed with mosquito repellent to get them through this weekend’s unloved grand prix.<\/p>\n
Although provisionally scheduled to return in 2015, the country is falling off the F1 calendar for now after this weekend’s race near New Delhi.<\/p>\n
Autosprint correspondent Alberto Antonini introduced his coverage of the 2013 edition by referring to slums and local indifference, and reports of tax, customs and financial problems.<\/p>\n
“We have missed an opportunity,” Sauber team boss Monisha Kaltenborn, an Austrian who was born in Dehradun, is quoted as saying.<\/p>\n
“We have not been able to sell F1 well enough in these parts,” she admitted.<\/p>\n
Antonini said the poor locals cannot afford to buy tickets, while the race is “a nightmare” for teams, weighed down by customs issues, chaotic traffic and fears of dengue fever.<\/p>\n
McLaren is sponsored by Hilton, and so the mechanics are staying at the hotel that is plagued by disease-carrying mosquitoes, while the drivers and team boss Martin Whitmarsh are at the safer Jaypee Greens.<\/p>\n
“The Hilton is really nice and the people are friendly and helpful,” Jenson Button’s manager Richard Goddard told the Daily Mail.<\/p>\n
“But perhaps as the hotel is new, there has not been enough allowance made for the amount of mosquitoes in the area.”<\/p>\n
McLaren spokesman Matt Bishop said staff have been issued with “powerful mosquito repellent spray”.<\/p>\n
Sebastian Vettel will almost certainly wrap up his 2013 title in India, but his girlfriend and parents are staying away.<\/p>\n
“India is a bit far away to visit for only one race,” his father Norbert told the Kolner Express newspaper.<\/p>\n
Bild newspaper said Vettel is taking all precautious to ensure his safety in India, refraining from putting ice in his drinks and eating local fruit and salads.<\/p>\n
“To kill germs, he gargles with high-proof whiskey,” the report revealed, adding that Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg “dodged a cow” on a highway on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
“Nothing unusual,” the German driver Tweeted.\u00a0 Kaltenborn, however, thinks Rosberg has dodged his last farm animal.<\/p>\n
She is quoted by Spain’s AS newspaper: “I think that once a country leaves (the calendar) it is very difficult to come back again, especially when we have not been able to establish the sport here.”<\/p>\n
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