Vodafone contest winners to get first-hand F1 experience

MUMBAI: Four "lucky" customers of telecommunications providers - Vodafone Essar - would get a chance to spend a week with the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes (VMM) team and experience the thrills of Formula 1 racing first-hand when it makes its Indian debut in October.

The winners of the "Vodafone Race to Fame" contest would stay in the same hotel as the F1 team's drivers, spend time in the pit stop with the drivers and the rest of the VMM team as well as in the paddock, it was announced at a media conference today.

The Indian GP is to be held at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida, the 17th race on the F1 circuit, on October 30.

"We see this as the biggest international sporting opportunity (for various businesses) after the (ICC) World Cup and are unveiling our plans for F1 in India," said Vodafone Essar's Chief Marketing Officer Kumar Ramanathan.

There would be a TV reality show featuring competitions at Go-Karting tracks in six cities -- Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad -- to pick some of the winners of the contest, it was announced.

The mobile telephone services firm has also planned a host of other activities like hot laps with McLaren Mercedes team's drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, besides road shows with the team's F1 car in the run-up to the Indian GP event.