Narain Karthikeyan. Review on Narain Karthikeyan

Narain Karthikeyan became the first Indian to test a formula 1 car when he sat behind the wheel of Jaguar's 2001 car at Silverstone. At that stage, he was 24 years old and eager to make his mark in the high speed world of F1. He achieved yet another landmark in 2005 when he became the first Indian to drive an F1 cr at a Grand Prix.

He made his debut for Jordan/Midland on March 6, 2005 at Melbourne. It was the first grand prix of the season and the euphoria in India regarding Narain was unbelievably high. People expected him to be rubbing wheels with Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button. Obviously, the experts and pundits thought otherwise. They knew that Narain would be driving an obselete car which would be one of the slowest cars on the F1 grid that year. But nevertheless, Indians are perpetual optimists and hoped that Narain would surprise everyone and take the F1 world by storm.

Eventually, March 5, 2005 came around. narain's first ever qualifying session could not have been better- the conditions were damp and wet- well suited to Narain's driving style. During that qualifying run, it became evident that Narain was fighting his yellow steed and taking it to the limit. His natural car control came into view for all to see. And the timesheets said it all: Narain was ninth fastest leaving his team mate far behind, against whom his performance wopuld be judged. Come raceday, Narain drove a good race to bring his Jordan in front of his teammate's (Tiago Monteiro) at the checkered flag. Nrain outraced his teammate at the next round at Malaysia as well. He had the upper hand until the fourth of the year. However, his Portuguese team mate came back strongly in Spain, Monaco and the Nurburging to wrest the advantage from Narain. Tiago Monteiro now seemed to be a better driver than Narain and it seemed that Karthikeyan was struggling.

At the USA debacle, Monteiro finished ahead of Narain to stand on the podium. This was a huge wake-up call for the Indian and he then went on to drive good races at Hungary, Belgium and a few other circuits.

However, at the season-ending Chinese Grand Prix, Narain suffered a huge crash which sent him out of the race. This was not a good way to finish the season, especially since Narain was out of a job for next year. Lady luck finally smiled on him and he has now managed a drive as Williams' fourth driver in 2006. but what is in store for Narain in 2007? Only time has the answers......

Comments, suggestions and tips are always welcome.