F1 car on sealink? Watch this space

After a host of rolling chassis sans engines, Mumbai may finally hear the full grunt of a Formula One car. F1 team Red Bull Racing wants to blaze one of their machines down Mumbai’s latest engineering marvel, the 5.6-km-long Bandra-Worli sealink.

The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has got a proposal from Red Bull Racing, one of the 10 teams in F1, for a promotional event in August with one of their top drivers in the cockpit.

“We are sending it to the state government for permission. The organisers will have to take permissions from various agencies, including the traffic police,” said Sharad Sabnis, chief engineer, MSRDC (sealink project).

Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal who heads the public works department, which has administrative control over the MSRDC, said: “I have not received the proposal but it should not be a problem. We can issue permission subject to certain conditions.”

Traffic management will be a major issue as the road is used by an average of 30,000 vehicles every day.

Mumbai has twice missed out on a tryst with an F1 car in the past.

In 2005, Jordon intended to drive down Marine Drive with Narain Karthikeyan at the wheel but his crash at Shanghai and logistic problems saw it shelved. The potholes in the road were also a deterrent.

Then, McLaren was all set to zip around Bandra Reclamation at the end of last year before 26/11 scuttled their plans.