Narain Karthykayan

[RF_Racer]

This man is a bit like Sato, some like him and some hate him, but he is certainly a lively character and good to see him back in F1.

People can say he does not deserve to be back in F1, but this guy has won races in F3, in Formula Nissan World Series, any guy who can win multiple races deserves a shot. He didnt do to bad in the Jordan and did on many occasions beat Moneiro.

I would say he is more deserving than some of the drivers that are on the grid today such as Petrov who is only at Renault because of his Russian money!

[ralf fan]

Overrated IMO

[Marbot]

Some would say that Karthykayan is only at HRT because of his Indian money.

Also, to say that a driver "is a bit like Sato", isn't really doing them many favours.

[kipper]

Given Karthikeyan's performances in the lower formulae, I don't think he is particularly out of place in F1. Although I can't see him ever being a race winner and he owes his place at Hispania due to sponsorship money, this is not an uncommon situation.

[Paradise City]

He's an O.K driver until he proves otherwise.

[strider]

I do wish people would not use words like 'hated', because it is so over the top.

There are some drivers whom I like very much and others I don't much care for, but that's as far as it goes.

Taku and Narain are similar in that their performances are somewhat erratic, but does anyone really dislike either of them that much? I doubt it. If you read the posts on the thread about Narain's appointment they universally praised him as one of the good guys and he is. I would put Taku in the same bracket, but that's just my opinion.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by kipper

Given Karthikeyan's performances in the lower formulae, I don't think he is particularly out of place in F1. Although I can't see him ever being a race winner and he owes his place at Hispania due to sponsorship money, this is not an uncommon situation.

Could anyone be a race winner in an HRT?

[ptclaus98]

I'm not too fussed about it but I think he deserved another shot. Rather see him in F1 than trundling around in the NCTS. Even if he was only bringing money, he's bring that team along, and I don't see the problem in that unless you're one of those incessantly unreasonable tifosi who fall head over heels in love with any of the tripe that comes out of di Montezemolo's mouth.

[Kai]

I fail to see how Petrov is any less deserving as a multiple GP2 race winner and runner up in the championship...

[Bonanza]

at least Narain is better than Yammamoto, though he seemed to have a lot of incidents in SF last year.

[rallycrosscraig]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Could anyone be a race winner in an HRT?

the HRT drivers stand a good chance of being first car to be lapped, so unless Kolles finds a way to enter the cars in a Libre clubby they won't be winning anything.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by rallycrosscraig

the HRT drivers stand a good chance of being first car to be lapped, so unless Kolles finds a way to enter the cars in a Libre clubby they won't be winning anything.

But then, judging by recent form, it would be difficult to see even a team like William's winning anything!

[Super Hans]

Whether he 'deserves' to be in F1 is neither here nor there. He's a competent driver who has money. A winning combination for a struggling team like HRT.

[RF_Racer]

Originally Posted by Kai

I fail to see how Petrov is any less deserving as a multiple GP2 race winner and runner up in the championship...

One good race end of season does not make him deserve two more seasons of F1. He was a laughin stock at Renault, inconsistent, erratic, smashing the car up more times than I can remember. There were several who I would have put in that Renault, Senna, Chandok would have been a better option as I am sure they would have bought ome money along if that was their reason. Ideally Nick H should have got the seat if they were serious of getting to the front.

Petrov is Putins idea to have a Russian in F1, where he is good or not, he has serious money behind him.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by RF_Racer

. There were several who I would have put in that Renault, Senna, Chandok would have been a better option as I am sure they would have bought ome money along if that was their reason.

Not Karthykayan then?

Originally Posted by RF_Racer

Petrov is Putins idea to have a Russian in F1, where he is good or not, he has serious money behind him.

Indeed. And "serious money" is what makes the car go quicker, is it not?

[ensign14]

Originally Posted by RF_Racer

He didnt do to bad in the Jordan and did on many occasions beat Moneiro.

When?

[E.B]

Narain v Tiago comparison, 2005.

19 races in total. Jordan EJ15B

Yes Narain did finish ahead of Tiago a number of times. Just not as many times as Tiago finished ahead of Narain.

In general terms the results of both Narain and Tiago were pretty close in 2005 when they were Jordan Teamates. However, in the final count up, Tiago had the edge in all categories other than a deficit of 1 in qualifying.

Narain.... best finish 4th
Tiago 3rd
(Both at the USGP 2005.)

Monteiro scored points in the USGP and one other, 7 in total for the season.
Narain scored 5 in total, all at the USGP.

Tiago finished classified in a higher position in results 12 times, against Narain 7.
Narain did just outqualify Tiago..... by 10 GP's to 9.
Fastest race laps between the two teamates was 11-8 in Tiago's favour.

Narain had 3 mechanical DNF's with two crash related DNF's.
Monteiro had just one DNF, a transmission failure in Brazil.

In races Narain retired with mechanical problems:
he retired from the British GP whilst running directly ahead of Monteriro.
At Monaco, Monteiro was ahead when Narain retired.
At Bahrain Narain retired on lap 1.

At Brazil, when Monteiro DNF'd, he was ahead of Tiago at the time.

I am not expecting any great contribution from Narain to be honest. He failed to impress me first time round, and the most impressive part of his application is the support packagethat he can offer. He is there because of the money, of thqat there is no doubt, and at almost 35 years of age he is getting a bit long in the tooth to still be trying to break into F1 on a regular basis.

I finf it amusing that Narain says he did not accept the HTY offer because he felt they were too new and had to show their performance.

I would have thought that the opening impression that HRT left of being generally the poorest performer of the new teams might have said to Narain that they actually proved nothing last year and his justification for their 2010 performance being enough reason to get on board for this year is nothing short of garbage.

If i was paying an alleged sun close to $1 million per GP then I would want perhaps something with more potential of actually enhancing my career rather than something perhaps more likely to have a negative effect..

Must not be presumptive though.... I mean Wills just may have discoverd the 2011 equivalent of the Double Diffuser and be super quick out of the box....... but maybe not.

[GolddustMini]

someone I work with summed it up:

F1 teams used to employ paying second drivers to ensure they could afford a better lead driver...
HRT employ a paying driver to ensure they can afford bacon butties for the mechanics...

[RF_Racer]

Originally Posted by ensign14

When?

This is how they qualified:

Melbourne:
P9 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 1:44.357
P13 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 1:46.846
Malaysia:
P17 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 1:37.806
P18 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 1:37.856
Bahrain:
P17 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 1:33.190
P18 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 1:33.424
San Marino:
P17 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 1:23.123
P18 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 1:25.100
Spain:
P15 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 1:18.557
P16 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 1:19.040
Monaco:
P15 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 1:19.408
P16 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 1:19.474
Europe:
P18 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 1:34.527 4.847
P19 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 1:34.640 4.960
Canada:
P17 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 1:18.664
P18 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 1:19.034
USA:
P17 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 1:13.462
P19 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 1:13.776
France:
P17 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 1:17.857
P19 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 1:18.047
Great Britain:
P17 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 1:23.583
P20 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota
Germany:
P18 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 1:18.599
P20 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota
Hungary:
P18 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 1:25.057
P20 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota
Turkey:
P15 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 1:30.710
P19 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota
Italy:
P17 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 1:24.666
P19 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 1:25.859
Belgium:
P19 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 1:51.498
P20 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 1:51.675
Brazil:
P13 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 1:13.387
P17 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 1:14.520
Japan:
P11 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 1:48.718
P20 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota
China:
P15 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 1:36.707
P19 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 1:39.233

[Paradise City]

I think he's a good driver, 'a' talent but not 'the talent'. He's a bit eldery and inexperienced with the new cars too. Not a good combo for a successful F1 future.

The only way he'll get higher up the grid is if the wave of Tata money is large enough to carry him.

[ASCII Man]

Originally Posted by RF_Racer

This is how they qualified:

That's not beating someone...

[fasteric]

Narain is a decent enough driver to warrant a formula 1 drive..looks like he has done what every driver needs to do..find a source of sponsorship to a: get paid and b: fund a car to race..Racing in the truck series actually helped to raise his profile.. race fans in India and in the USA looked to see who this guy was..He brought alot of interest and was set for more truck racing in 2011..why not support a driver for the upcoming India GP

[safc_fan89]

I only recall three things that he did during the 05 season. Worst qualifying lap I have ever seen at the German GP (one of the positives of the single-lap quali was that we got to see the lap in full), running wide and jumping into the air at Belgium and crashing in China. Don't recall him doing anything decent.

If he was that good a driver he would not have been in the wilderness for 5 seasons. Clearly this has more to do with money than talent. A shame, but as we will only be seeing the HRT cars when they are lapped, I don't think it is all that important.

The driver HRT should be going for, who is available, is Klien. Despite spending next to no time in the car, he always looked faster than Senna did. Someone with proper experience is what they need, not someone who can promote the Indian GP...

[Hawkwood]

To be fair, what they need is someone with large amounts of cash, which is what they've now got.
If they're getting enough money from Tata then maybe they can now go for Klien (or Liuzzi, assuming they expected happens and he loses his seat).

[karimbo]

I would like to see Narain in Hamilton's car and Lewis in a HRT.

And beleive me, I love Lewis.

But I find it sad that a F3 pole sitter in Macao never had the chance to race in a car designed by Adrian Newey like some other people did, even though they never were on pole in Macao.