Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Finally an Indian F1 Driver to race in India

October 30th would be a historic date for Indian Motorsport. On that day, India is going to host a Formula 1 race for the first time. And to make the event more memorable India is going to be represented by its own Indian Driver in the form of Narain Karthikeyan, the country's first ever Formula 1 driver.

Narain had made history when he became the first Indian F1 driver when he drove for Jordan in 2005. In 2010, Karun Chandhok drove for HRT but we were not sure whether he would be driving in 2011. The apprehensions proved true when he was shown the door by HRT by the middle of the year. In late 2010, Narain announced that he would be driving for HRT in 2011. He was having a successful stint in Nascar, but the lure for driving in India proved too hard to ignore. So he came back to F1 to drive a HRT car, though HRT is a back of the grid team.

Unfortunatetly, Narain lost his drive by the Silverstone race as HRT choose to take Daniel Ricciardo for the Redbul sponsorship money. However, Narain is coming back to race for HRT in the Buddh International Circuit in Noida in India.

Hero Motors had come forward to sponsor Narain and the branding of Hero Motors is going to appear in Narain's driving suit and car. It is indeed going to be a great moment for Indian motor sports as a large automotive company like Hero Motors has chosen to enter F1.

There may be a few cynics who sneer at Narain for driving in F1, however, it must be mentioned that in the only FP1 where Narain and Daniel Ricciardo has participated for HRT, Narain had beaten Ricciardo hands down. The timing of Narain spoke volumes about his ability.

It would be pertinent to mention Johnny Herbert. In an interview to Hindustan Times, he had mentioned that "Just look at Karun and Narain. They don't get any tracktime and then they are expected to get in the car and be fast. It doesn't work like that." If Narain Karthikeyan gets sufficient time in a good car, then he can really shine.





No comments: