MiD DAY gives you an eyewitness account of what it felt like watching the race from the Force India pit
Anu00a0eyewitnessu00a0accountu00a0of what happened in the pit as Force India's Fisichella made history
The amount of nervous energy that existed in the pit garage of Force India in yesterday's Belgium Grand Prix, I don't think existed anywhere else ever before.
It was absolutely fascinating for me to watch the race more than live literally with all the radio contact, picking up the conversations on car radios.
At the end of it, the moment of joy was certainly very overwhelmingly when Giancarlo Fisichella crossed the finish line to gain second position after Kimi Raikkonen. It was such an achievement that shedding a tear was only natural.
For Vijay Mallya, the emotions were just welling up. He certainly had more than just a tear in his eyes. He had very little to say. He just managed a 'YES' in exhilaration. It was one day when the conversation was restricted in the pit garage during the race. Everyone was glued to the TV. Vijay stood entirely by himself, watching the TV monitor very carefully. Occasionally, he would turn around and both of us would have a discussion on where things were heading.
On Saturday night, when we had dinner together, he said in his inimitable style: 'Hey, listen man, pole position in F1' and repeated 'pole, pole' half a dozen times. It was incredible!
Without doubt, Fisichella could have won this race. He was screaming on the radio during the last lap: 'I can win this, I can win this'. But the KERS system on the Ferrari just dragged it up the hill for him. A team like Force India is less than two years old. It was a back-of-the-grid team and started making gradual progress.
It's been a long journey for Vijay. We have been friends for the last 37 years. We met because of motorsport.
It was 27 years ago at the racetrack in Madras where he told me: 'Hey man, one day I want to own a Formula One team. We should race Formula One'. At that time, we were just racing drivers more than anything else and were colleagues on the track. We had a good laugh about it.
I knew he would
Knowing Vijay as well I do, I knew he would pull it off some day for sure. We were in Istanbul together when he bought the team two years ago. And he said, 'Hey, finally I have done it. He just repeated 'Formula One, Formula One.' That is where we are now Formula One. To get an entry in Formula One is the pinnacle. It's like being in the Olympics. Formula One is the highest viewed sport after the Olympics and World Cup football and these events come only once in four years. So you can imagine... the highest viewed sport has Force India there. Sunday was certainly a great day for the country.
I am glad that Vijay's dream has come true not only owning a team but making a great success of it. As I left for the airport, the entire team was lined up in front of the pit garage for a few photographs of the historic moment. The beers were in full flow. It was a refreshing weekend.
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As told to Sanjjeev K Samyal
Vicky Chandhok, a former race and rally champion, is former president of the Federation of Motorsports Clubs of India (FMSCI). His son Karun races on the GP2 circuit.
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