Rejoice India, rejoice! Your long wait of entering into the glamorous and prestigious world of Formula One car racing is soon gonna get satisfied. A year or so, and India’s long-awaited dream of being a part of one of the world’s best car races and getting to see the world’s best F1 drivers prove themselves at the ultimate motor sport event will transform into reality.

Formula One governing body, FIA has announced the schedule of events for next year’s race and we see the inauguration of the Formula One Indian Grand Prix falling on October 30, 2011. It is for the first time that F1 will see record 20 rounds beginning on 13th March with the Bahrain GP and closing on the 27th of November in Brazil after the penultimate race in Abu Dhabi on November 13, 2011. The Indian Grand Prix happens to be the 18th round. But hold on!

This 18th round in the 2011 calendar is subject to approval; homologation of the track needs to complete. India’s maiden F1 race will be held at the Jaypee Group Circuit in Greater Noida which is still under construction and will hopefully see completion by June 2011. It is pending FIA homologation, but that won’t be a problem though. The estimated cost to develop the 5.15 km circuit is about US $215 million. It will have a seating capacity of 150,000.

Unfortunately, no new teams will be entering next year’s Formula One Season. The Federation Internationale del’ Automobile shut doors on new teams for 2011 F1 indicating that nobody met the requirements. FIA announced that no entry had met the required standard to fill the vacant 13th team spot.

The current F1 season has three races back-to-back. Next year, however, Formula One racing is going to be tougher with four races back-to-back. If one weekend has the Malaysia/China GP, the following will have the Spain/Monaco GP, followed by Germany/Hungary on the third consecutive weekend and Japan/Korea on the fourth.

Next year’s 20-round championship will impose extra costs, but at the same time, measures have also been taken to cut costs. New Formula One rules have been introduced such as the ban on in-season testing and restricting the number of mechanics attending an F1 race. Also, an announcement has been made by the world motor sport council that the F1 governing body would be allowed to punish Formula One drivers and other competitors in the series who commit motoring offences on public roads. In the most serious cases, the international sporting code would be altered allowing the governing body to withdraw a driver’s international super licence.

The most important outcome of the World Motorsport Council meet will be the decision taken on Ferrari’s alleged team orders at the German GP in July. The only other change happens to be Turkey opening the European campaign on May 8, 2011. Ex-world champion Jacques Villeneuve will not be returning to the grid as the Canadian had lodged one of the rejected entries. Villeneuve had joined hands with the Italian ex-GP2 team Durango, while another bid had come from the Spanish outfit Epsilon Euskadi.