Bitter start for Narain Karthikeyan; sweet for Karun Chandhok

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Their fortunes are poles apart. While Hispania Racing Team’s substandard F1 car put paid to Narain Karthikeyan’s hopes of competing at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Karun Chandhok is having a whale of a time in the United States, courtesy his experienced teammate.

For the second year in a row, HRT cars failed to make it to the grid at the Albert Park Circuit after falling out of the 107 per cent qualifying cutoff; which means Narain will once again fly out of Melbourne rather early for next weekend’s Malaysian GP. HRT had requested the FIA to allow their drivers to race, but stewards didn’t oblige citing Article 36.1 FIA Formula 1 Sporting Regulations.

“With HRT, I was under a false impression with the new car. I obviously knew there would be problems but I thought we could get in, and I was very wrong,” said Narain.

Narain said he ‘wouldn’t be surprised if the same situation continues in Malaysia’.

“It’s going to be a lot hotter and we have cooling problems already, so it’s going to be very hard. By China (third round) we should be okay,” he added.

At the Sebring 12-hour race — season opener of the inaugural World Endurance Championship — Karun would be enjoying a sixth-place start on his sportscar debut. It was experienced Aussie David Brabham who guided Karun’s team JRM to sixth spot in the 15-minute qualifying session. In the 12-hour endurance race, three drivers (Karun, Brabham and Scotland’s Peter Dumbreck) will take turns behind the wheel of Honda HPD.

Karun also deserves credit for posting fourth fastest time in the final practise session ahead of the qualifying when his JRM team chose to send in seasoned Brabham.