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Karthikeyan takes positives from rookie season
By Bivash Mukherjee 2005-10-15

INDIA’S Narain Karthikeyan will be taking away a lot of positives as his rookie season with Formula One comes to an end in Shanghai this weekend.

“Everything was new for me … the team, my teammates and most of the circuits as well. It has been a lot of hard work for us but I enjoyed it thoroughly. Reliability was a problem on occasions, but on most cases I think I managed to live up to expectations,” the Team Jordan driver told Shanghai Daily.

“Being the first Indian in Formula One also meant a lot of challenge to me. It was a new ball game altogether, all very intense. I have learnt a lot in my debut season.”

Karthikeyan’s best of the 2005 calendar was a good 11th place in the qualifying at the Suzuka circuit in Japan last week. The 28-year-old rookie racer showed remarkable poise and some gutsy driving on a rain-drenched track as he steered his Jordan-Toyota EJ15B for his best finish so far.

He finished 12th at the season-opening grand prix in Australia, raising hopes of an Asian driver making it big on motor sports premier event along with BAR Honda’s Japanese driver Takuma Sato.

But since that Melbourne beginning, Karthikeyan has managed 5 of the 12 points accumulated by Jordan from 18 races so far with the other 7 coming from his Portuguese teammate Tiago Monteiro.

That is slightly better than its closest rival Minardi, which is at the bottom of the standings with 7 points.

The two cash-trapped teams have for decades battled it out for the odd point in Formula One. That may now all change however as the era of the independent privately owned teams come to an end at the Shanghai Grand Prix.

Jordan, along with Minardi and Sauber, made up a threesome of sorts on the F1 circuit and often competed among themselves, much to the amusement of the fans.

BMW will move into the Sauber paddock next year while Red Bull takes charge of Minardi after it was sold to Austrian billionaire Dietrich Ateschitz.

Jordan led the way almost 10 months ago when the ebullient Eddie Jordan got into a deal with Russian-born Canadian tycoon Alex Shnaider. The team not only gets a new name, Midland, but also throws Karthikeyan’s future in doubt.

Midland has made no secret of the fact that its drivers will have to bring in their own cash for a drive in the world’s most glamorous sport. India’s biggest conglomerate, the Tata Group, has backed Karthi-keyan for 8 years. How far they are willing to go in 2006 though remains to be seen.

There are, of course, the faint whispers of a new team starting on the F1 grid next year with Japanese Sato confirming that he had been approached.

“It is still uncertain what will happen next year. We are still in talks with Midland. Besides, lots of changes are coming up next year. We will see what happens,” said a composed Karthikeyan, who has been singularly responsible for boosting the F1 ratings in cricket-obsessed South Asia.

The rookie F1 driver however ruled out any move to the upstart series A1.

Karthikyan was impressed after a day out at the Shanghai International Circuit. “It is incredible what they have done here,” said the Jordan driver.

In yesterday’s practice sessions, Karthikeyan clocked a timing of 1:38.308 in the morning session and 1:37.467 in the second.

“It will be very challenging. Again I will be on a new circuit, but so will the others. So in that sense, we all start on an equal footing again.”

Karthikeyan takes positives from rookie season by — INDIA’S Narain Karthikeyan will be taking away a lot of positives as his rookie season with Formula One comes to an end in Shanghai this weekend.

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