How else do you explain articles on the front page of leading Indian newspapers, which then make their way to news wires around the world, that point out absurd duties and deposits that may be levied before teams and their equipment can clear customs.

Moreover, on an individual level, there are several members of the paddock, teams and media included, who fear that they may not be able to even attend the Indian Grand Prix because of the long drawn out procedure that surrounds getting an Indian visa.
Contrast this approach with, say, the Administration of Singapore, which embraces the race to the extent of even trimming the branches of trees that are trackside to ensure that the spectacle and the city of Singapore looks its absolute best in the aerial shots taken by the television choppers high above the track. You may call that a bit extreme, but combine that with the far easier-to-accomplish task of lighting up monuments and heritage buildings to stand out against the city’s sky scrapers, and top it all off by adding highly visible ‘YourSingapore’ branding across the track, and what you get is the most widely viewed television sport (with the exception of the Olympics and World Cup football) effectively working as your tourism department.

And we’re not talking simply of reaching a global audience via television, we’re also talking of the thousands of people who actually visit the host country for the race. Malaysia, for instance, attracts over 30,000 tourists a year just to watch the Grand Prix at Sepang, outside Kuala Lumpur. Research suggests that these are tourists who spend up to two-three times more than average on shopping and entertainment. And that’s to say nothing of the teams themselves, or the international media, which in itself is in the hundreds.