“When Narain drove in F1, he did not have a competitive chassis or technical package. He's capable of winning grands prix in a good car.”

According to the Hindustan Times, Mallya 'has repeatedly stressed that the UK media knows far more about the sport than the relatively inexperienced writers on the sport in India', and another of those to question the judgement of the Kingfisher Airlines billionaire is erstwhile Williams team manager and respected British F1 journalist Peter Windsor.

“It's amusing when people who have made a lot of money come to F1 and make such ridiculous statements,” Windsor asserted. “It makes one wonder how they ever made that money!

“There is absolutely no question that Karun has the ability to do well. He is at least as good as Adrian Sutil.”