Formula 1: Vijay Mallya happy to have Narain Karthikeyan for 2011
It was recently revealed that Narain Karthikeyan, the first Indian driver to ever drive for a full Formula 1 season, recently signed a deal with Hispania Racing Team for the 2011 Formula 1 season.
Since the 2011 Formula 1 season is expected to hold an Indian Grand Prix by the end of October, HRT will definitely gain some fan following from there. Before signing with HRT, Narain stated that he would love to drive in the sport once again and have a
chance of racing at the inaugural Indian Grand Prix.
It seems that his dream came true and since he brought a major sponsor from Indian car company Tata, HRT will benefit from this deal. Vijay Mallya, team principal of Force India is happy about this development.
“I'm delighted that Narain is able to make his F1 comeback with HRT and I wish him every success in the coming year. India should be proud that it will be fully represented in its inaugural grand prix by an Indian team and now an Indian driver,” Mallya said.
Vijay believes it will benefit the sport and there are chances that the sport might have two Indian drivers at the same time since Karun Chandhok’s seat is still uncertain.
Karun has been linked with Force India at times but according to the team principal, the team is expected to have a European driver.
“We have spoken to Narain over a period of time about returning and it just wasn't the right time for us in this stage of our development,” revealed Mallya.
According to some reports, Adrian Sutil is expected to stay in Force India alongside the team’s 2010 reserve driver Paul di Resta as their full season drivers. Nico Hulkenberg is expected to work as their reserve driver.
If this is the case, it means that the team has bought or released Tonio Liuzzi’s contract with the team since he was signed with Force India until the end of 2011.
“We're currently closing our driver line-up. I'm really excited about what's to come,” Mallya added.
Tags: