It looks like Narain Karthikeyan has given up hope of getting a Formula 1 drive in 2013, which will leave the sport without an Indian driver this year. Karthikeyan was the first Indian F1 driver back in 2005 with the Jordan team, but he then disappeared from the Grand Prix world and it was not until 2010 that India had a new F1 racer in Karun Chandhok, who raced for the woeful HRT team for the first half of that year. The arrival of the Indian Grand Prix in 2011 meant that Karthikeyan was able to find backing to return to F1 (with HRT) for the first half of that year and for the Indian race, while Chandhok popped up again that year, driving with Team Lotus (now Caterham) in Germany that year. Karthikeyan then returned to HRT for the whole of 2012. This will mean that there is unlikely to be an Indian racing in the Indian GP this year.
Karthikeyan is reported to be heading for the United States where his sponsorship will go a great deal further than it will in Formula 1. Narain would be a good recruit for the struggling IndyCar Series and has even had some experience racing on ovals in the NASCAR Truck Series back in 2010 when he took part in nine races at the wheel of a Chevrolet. His best finish was a reasonable 11th.
Joe,
Do you know of any emerging talent from Nsia in terms of drivers or any attempts to try and find and nuture potential future F1 drivers?
Good luck to Narain, he’s a nice guy.
Absolutely agree.
“Narain would be a good recruit for the struggling IndyCar Series and has even had some experience racing on ovals in the NASCAR Truck Series back in 2010 when he took part in nine races at the wheel of a Chevrolet.”
While oval racing experience can be useful indeed, NASCAR and IndyCar racing don’t share the same skill sets, at all. Because of that, drivers attempting to go directly from one series to the others have been very rare recently. A few high profile IndyCar drivers have recently attempted a switch because of NASCAR’s higher purses – I am thinking of Dario Franchitti, Sam Hornish Jr and Danica Patrick, who to be honest really haven’t delivered. Even though Sam has been a solid championship contender in 2012 Nationwide, at last.
Quite interresting to see Narain’s attempts to join IndyCar anyway. Not that he would be such an awesome addition in terms of talent really – he’s no bad driver of course, but seriously, IndyCar’s strength of field is in no way a problem right now(ask Barrichello, Rubens…) However, the fact that his Indian backers find potential interrest American racing is very intriguing.
“However, the fact that his Indian backers find potential interrest American racing is very intriguing.”
Narain has some ties with Chevrolet, in that he is associated with Chevrolet single seater racing series in India.
Like all other automakers, Chevy too is keen in popularizing its brand in India. His Nascar truck was chevy powered and I am sure if he ends up competing in Indycar series, it will be in Chevy powered car as well.
His last visit to the US raised profile of the Nascar truck series in India and the races he participated were followed by the Indian fans on television, not to mention the Indian expats attending races track side.
If he indeed tests for an Indy team, it won’t be his first test, coz if memory serves right, he had tested an Indy car in 2004/05.
I heard Narain won the 2010 Most Popular Driver award in NASCAR’s truck series.
“If he indeed tests for an Indy team, it won’t be his first test, coz if memory serves right, he had tested an Indy car in 2004/05.”
He ran one day at Phoenix (oval) in Oct of 04 – I believe he got in 60 laps or so and had no issues other then the fact his times didn’t excite anyone. Cheever was looking for money through Karthikeyan’s Red Bull connections (at the time) but nothing came to pass.
Joe, now that Narain’s career in f1 is all but over…I want to know was he a good driver?…or was he just there because of the money…and do you think he deserved to be in a better team?
as its really hard to judge the performances of the drivers at the back end of the grid
Narain always seemed like an affable kind of guy and a reasonable driver, but not one that was ever likely to be near the sharp end of the grid.
I think Karun C. however had great potential and thought it a real shame that he never really had another chance to prove himself, as having a Indian driver of quality would be very desirable for F1 and marketing in the Subcontinent.