In the magazine: India's grand prix history

The vast sub-continent of India is almost ready for its Formula 1 baptism, as the circus rolls into the Buddh International Circuit for the 17th event of the 19-round season. Ahead of the country joining the 30 others to have hosted world championship grands prix, AUTOSPORT helps to build on the excitement already clearly felt by the Indian people.

Indian motorsport primemovers Vijay Mallya (owner of the Force India team) and Vicky Chandhok (father of current racer Karun) recall the time they brought F1 machinery to their country in 1982, in the form of a thrash around a Chennai airfield. The Madras Grand Prix pitched an assortment of F1 and F5000 weaponry together and drew a massive crowd, as our pictures show.

Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok have flown the flag for India in international racing for several years and here they tell Edd Straw why F1's arrival in the country is a massive coup for this rapidly growing motosport fan base.

Mark Hughes column - Our resident grand prix editor ponders how he'll sort out the order of his annual top-10 driver ratings, although choosing a number one probably won't take very long.

Indian GP preview - Expert analysis from David Coulthard, Gary Anderson and Lucas di Grassi as F1 heads to Buddh for the first Indian Grand Prix.

Heikki Kovalainen - The Finn, very much team leader at Lotus, admits to Adam Cooper that he didn't make the most of his time in a great car - at McLaren in 2008 - and how he's learned from his mistakes.

WRC Catalunya - Sebastien Loeb's seventh straight Spanish victory has handed him an eight-point lead over his Ford rival Mikko Hirvonen ahead of the finale in Wales. David Evans explains how, for once, he used a road-sweeping start position to his advantage.

DTM Hockenheim - The season finale drew 120,000 fans as they bade farewell to the current generation of cars. Jamie Green broke his season duck to give the Mercedes C-class a victorious send-off, watched by Jamie O'Leary.

V8 Supercars, Surfers Paradise - Dozens of international aces - from F1, IndyCar, tin-tops and endurance racing - made the trip Down Under to pair up with the V8 Supercar regulars in the annual - 'pro-am' battle that is the Gold Coast 600. Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais helped Jamie Whincup to race one victory, and the points lead for Holden, while Northern Irishman Richard Lyons partnered Ford ace Mark Winterbottom to race two glory. Phil Branagan rates all the visitors' performances.

WTCC Suzuka - The World Touring Car Championship crews' first visit to Suzuka resulted in victories for Alain Menu's Chevrolet and Tom Coronel's BMW. Mark Glendenning watched all the action, even if it was on the shorter, less-fever Japanese layout.

Introducing - Young Kiwi Richie Stanaway blitzed the German F3 championship for Van Amersfoort Racing and has his sights set on climbing the European single-seater ladder.

From the archive - American drivers have always used the Formula Ford Festival for career progression and the inaugural edition, back in 1972, was no exception, as David Loring and Danny Sullivan proved.

Race of my life - Argentinian Oscar Larrauri recalls his charging drive through the field around Miami's Bicentennial Park in Walter Brun's Porsche 962 during the 1988 IMSA GTP qualifier.

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