Buddh International Circuit

Motorsport track in India

Buddh, Three Seasons in Greater Noida

Built at Greater Noida for India's first Grand Prix, the Buddh circuit won over the drivers in three seasons, and Sebastian Vettel won all three races.

The Buddh International Circuit was finished with almost no time to spare. It was inaugurated on the 18th of October 2011, less than two weeks before its first Grand Prix, after a project that began with a tentative agreement in 2007 and then lost a year to delays over land and construction, pushing a planned 2010 debut back. The bill was estimated at around $400 million. The circuit stands in Jaypee Sports City at Greater Noida, in Uttar Pradesh in northern India, and takes its name from the surrounding district of Gautam Buddh Nagar, which itself honors Gautama Buddha.

Hermann Tilke drew the 5.125 km lap and adjusted it on the teams' advice to encourage overtaking. Within the first three corners the track climbs fourteen meters, and the main straight runs just over a kilometer to a braking zone that became the key place to pass. Across the far side a banked right hander tightens through turns 10, 11 and 12, which earned it the name Currybolica, a nod to the Parabolica at Monza. The drivers took to it. Lewis Hamilton likened its flow to Spa Francorchamps, and Jenson Button found its linked corners hard to drive quickly lap after lap.

The Indian Grand Prix ran three times, from 2011 to 2013, and the result never varied: Sebastian Vettel won every one from pole for Red Bull. In 2012 he led every lap. In 2013 his win sealed a fourth consecutive world title, while Fernando Alonso, his closest rival, came home eleventh.

That 2013 race was the last. The event was put on hold for 2014 and then abandoned amid a long tax dispute with Uttar Pradesh, whose authorities had classed Formula 1 as entertainment rather than sport, and the owners wrote off losses of at least $25 million. National racing carried on, MotoGP visited in 2023, and in 2026 the Adani Group, while working to take over the owners' parent company, spoke of a plan to bring Formula 1 back. For now the chapter stands at three races, all with the same winner.

Every Grand Prix here

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