Whitmarsh taking no risks

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh is not prepared to repeat the experiences of New Delhi's crazy roads last season.

India boasts the highest road accident death rate in the world, and Whitmarsh can understand why in the wake of a number of incidents occurred to and from the Buddh International Circuit.

To cut down on the prospect of adding to such a statistic and also on the amount of time travelling from New Delhi around next weekend's race, Whitmarsh has arranged for the team to be situated at a hotel much closer to the circuit.

"We are not going to go in from New Delhi every day because the biggest peril to our life and limb was driving from there to the circuit," said Whitmarsh.

"I couldn't believe the first day. We were going down what looked like a well-developed dual carriageway, in the fast lane, when suddenly I thought 'That's a truck coming towards us on the wrong side of the road'.

"The driver just moved into the middle lane, it went past, and pulled back into the fast lane.

"I was sat in the front and going 'Did you see that?' and our driver went 'Yeah, no problem.' Then you realise. It happened about four or five times.

"So we are going to stay closer to the circuit, as close as we can, because that wasn't safe and it was also time consuming."

Prior to last year's inaugural race concerns were aired about health and safety, resulting in teams stepping up behind-the-scenes efforts to ensure they were as prepared as possible.

Whitmarsh believes after the debut visit and appreciating the lie of the land, this year's trip will be less fraught.

However, he added: "The second race is a little too early to say complacency steps in, but I think this time you go a little more relaxed than we went the first time.

"We've received a report that there's been quite a lot of maintenance effort in the paddock, so hopefully our facilities work this year.

"We will take the normal precautions we do when outside of Europe but nothing extraordinary.

"You've got to be conscious of hygiene and all those sorts of things, and we've a number of precautions.

"They are probably less than last year, and if all goes well we will get even more complacent for the third trip, I expect."