Karthikeyan happy with outing at 2011 Indian Grand Prix at Buddh International Circuit – Formula 1
Narain Karthikeyan has expressed his pleasure with his performance at the inaugural Indian Grand Prix.
Karthikeyan, who replaced Tonio Liuzzi for the event, was able to outperform his HRT teammate Daniel Ricciardo. The decision to replace Liuzzi might have been influenced by investment from sponsors for the Indian driver, but he proved his worth on the track.
He finished only 0.5 seconds behind Jerome d’Ambrosio.
Karthikeyan said that he was very pleased to have raced in front of his home crowd and to have been able to finish it.
“I had to finish the race and I finished the race,” Karthikeyan told the BBC. “I was running pretty competitively; beat my team-mate and a green Lotus I think. I made a very good start, lost out to the Virgin by half a second but nevertheless with
what I had I had to finish.”
Karthikeyan also mentioned that this is not the only avenue that he was gunning for. He hopes to be featuring in other races in the future for HRT and his performance at the Indian Grand Prix would have helped in his bid to do just that.
He also said that now that Indians are much more interested in investing in the sport, there will be a lot more opportunities for him and other present and prospecting drivers from the country.
Expressing his views on the scope of Indian Grand Prix, he suggested that although this is a good start, but India should try to compete with neighbouring countries with regards to Formula 1, which will help in its growth and productivity of good drivers
in the future.
“I think all our neighbours - China, Malaysia, Singapore and so on - we're competing with them with the economy and so many other things, so having a high profile event like this gets us that boost which is very important these days,” he said.
Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has also praised the Indian Grand Prix, which is a good sign for the growth and popularity of the sport in India and worldwide.
Though only considered as rumours at this point, but there has been talks of a street circuit plan in Mumbai, India, which can only mean good things for the Formula 1 in India.
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