Narain Karthikeyan has Fernando Alonso as his role model.
It’s not a bad choice. The formula-one season leader after five races, Alonso didn’t score a point with Minardi as a rookie four years ago. Since then, he’s won four times and finished second in last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix to Kimi Raikkonen of McLaren-Mercedes.
Karthikeyan finished three laps behind Alonso on Sunday, far out of the points, driving a car that was four to five seconds slower per lap than Alonso’s.
But he finished, which is like winning for drivers on some of the also-ran teams.
The first Indian driver in formula one, Karthikeyan doesn’t expect to score a point in his rookie season with Jordan. He just hopes to get noticed, keep learning and justify his sponsorship from the Tata Group — one of India’s largest conglomerates — and state-run Bharat Petroleum.
”The driver is only as good as his equipment,” Karthikeyan said at the Spanish Grand Prix. ”Alonso didn’t do that much at Minardi, but people knew he was talented and he got the right opportunity.”
In five of 19 races this season, Karthikeyan has finished 15th, 11th and 14th, and he was 13th on Sunday. He’s only failed to finish one race. In Bahrain, his car went out after two laps with electrical problems.
It’s unclear if Karthikeyan has Alonso’s talent, but he already had 12 years of driving experience before moving to Jordan in February, shortly after the team was bought by Russian-born billionaire Alex Shnaider. He impressed quickly, completing the Australian Grand Prix a few days later with barely any practice in his new car.
”It’s been hard, I’ve had a lot to learn,” said Karthikeyan (28), who drove last season in the Nissan World Series, a top feeder circuit for formula one. He also had test drives with Minardi and Jaguar (now Red Bull) before joining Jordan.
”With what I have, I’m trying to do the best I can,” said Karthikeyan, who is hoping for a faster car from Jordan this summer. ”The learning curve is pretty high. So, it’s one step at a time, but it’s going okay.”
The Tata Group signed Karthikeyan several years ago, hoping to capitalise on the face of a young Indian sportsman who wasn’t a cricket player. Like soccer in most of Europe, cricket in India dominates 90% of the sports coverage.
”There are few international sports stars in India,” said Karthikeyan, who was born in Chennai, and now lives in Coimbatore. ”Only cricket is big, and now, to a certain extent, tennis is coming up. We’ve never had a formula-one driver, so to represent India, I feel happy.”
Karthikeyan says he was never any good at cricket. However, at the Spanish Grand Prix, India’s number-one cricket star, Sachin Tendulkar, was the team’s guest in the paddock.
”I know him very well,” Karthikeyan said of Tendulkar. ”He likes racing and he follows formula one. I’m India’s top racing driver, so we got to know each other. It’s great for me because he’s such a big hero in India.”
Asked to compare his profile with Tendulkar’s, Karthikeyan laughed.
”The gap is huge. Everyone knows him.”
Signing an Indian driver was a natural for Jordan, who hope to tap into an enormous market of one billion people. Formula one’s commercial director, Bernie Ecclestone, already has said he expects India to stage a formula-one race within three years — probably in Bombay, although Calcutta and Hyderabad also have been mentioned.
If it gets a race, India would join other non-traditional formula-one nations that have been awarded races — Bahrain, China and Turkey most recently.
Weighing only 64kg, Karthikeyan is slight — probably the smallest driver in formula one.
”I think the weight is just right,” he said. ”And I think my strength is very good.”
He acknowledges he has no hope of winning this season. Even finishing on the podium ”would take a lot of luck, to be honest”, he said. His goal is to crack through to the top 10, and wait until Jordan introduces a new car this summer. The team are now running last year’s Jaguar model, which is unsuited for new engine and aerodynamic regulations introduced this season.
”My dream was to be the first Indian formula-one driver, and now the dream is to be the very first Indian to win a formula-one race,” said Karthikeyan, who was coaxed into the sport by his rally-driving father.
”I see my future in formula one if it’s with Jordan or somebody else, but I know I will be here for a couple of more years.” — Sapa-AP