Narain Karthikeyan

Narain Karthikeyan earned his place in Formula One folklore when he became the first driver from India – and the Indian sub-continent – to test and race a grand prix car. His pace suggested that he could remain a fixture in the top flight, but his debut year at Jordan was mixed and the personable Karthikeyan failed to cling onto race drive for 2006.

With little top-flight motorsport in his homeland, Karthikeyan ventured to Europe to learn his trade, joining the renowned ELF Winfield School in France in 1992. The education proved a good investment, for he began his race career with a podium on debut in Formula Maruti on his return to India. Sure that he wanted to make a living in motorsport, Narain returned to Europe, this time to Britain, where he secured a drive in the 1993 Formula Vauxhall Junior championship, and used his time there to learn more about piloting a single-seater and to get used to the circuits that would become his home over the next few years.

In 1994, Karthikeyan moved on to Formula Ford, winning the UK winter series and standing on the podium at a race held in support of the Portuguese F1 Grand Prix at Estoril. Despite getting used to Britain, he opted to return to India and tackle the new Formula Asia category. He only managed four races in 1995, but took one podium – at Shah Alam in Malaysia – to set himself up for the following year, when he swept all before him to win the championship.

With backing behind him, he returned to Britain for the 1997 season, stepping into the Formula Opel series, where he finished sixth overall on the back of notable race victory. That provided the platform for a move into Formula Three in 1998, where Narain made first contact with Carlin Motorsport. He took two podiums – at Spa and Silverstone – in eight races during that initial season, and remained with Carlin into 1999, when more history was made as Karthikeyan became the first Indian to take pole and victory in the UK series, winning twice at Brands Hatch to open Carlin's F3 account. Five podium visits and two pole positions helped him finish sixth overall in a championship that featured Marc Hynes, Jenson Button and Luciano Burti.

He continued to contest the British F3 series in 2000, this time having transferred to the Stewart Racing organisation, but was denied another victory as Carlin drivers Takuma Sato, Anthony Davidson and Stewart team-mate Tomas Scheckter took the lions' share of the spoils. After finishing fourth in the UK, however, Karthikeyan ended the year on a higher note, setting pole and a lap record in Macau and then beating another international field to victory in the Korea Superprix.

His links with the Stewart team also led to the offer of an F1 test. This came the following year, after Stewart had handed the reins of its grand prix operation over to Ford and Jaguar Racing, and Karthikeyan found himself at the wheel of the Jaguar R1, making more history, at Silverstone in June. His performance there led to a testing offers from Jordan later in the year.

Much of the Indian's racing, however, was carried out away from the eyes of F1, after he decided to try his luck in the Japanese-based Formula Nippon championship in Japan. The experiment was not a successful one, with a strong field and a host of new circuits conspiring against Karthikeyan, who finished 14th overall. Therefore he returned to Europe the following year, joining RC Motorsport for the inaugural Telefonica World Series by Nissan. On the pace from the start of the season, he claimed one pole position and set a new lap record for Interlagos, as the series ventured to South America at the end of the year.

Narain remained in the World Series for 2003, but linked up once again with Carlin. The relationship produced five podium finishes, and fourth overall in the points, but a series of incidents prevented the Indian from winning a race. His performances, as well as his nationality, continued to make him a target for F1 teams looking for test drivers, and Karthikeyan turned out for Minardi before the year was over. Another season in the World Series beckoned for 2004 and, having returned to RC Motorsport, Karthikeyan finally broke through into the winner's club. He won races in Valencia and Magny-Cours, but his season was a mixed bag otherwise and he finished sixth in the points.

With a possible Indian Grand Prix on the horizon, Karthikeyan continued to feature on the F1 radar and, finally, one team decided to pursue him for a race drive. The Jordan team was now in the hands of Russian billionaire Alex Shnaider, who with Colin Kolles saw potential in both Narain's driving and sponsorship links. There is little doubt that the Indian had the pace to step up, but his race-craft was sometimes lacking and he was often overshadowed by the consistent speed of team-mate Tiago Monteiro for much of the time. However it was a chance that the Indian felt he had to take, and he did score a fourth place at Indianapolis in the six-car Bridgestone runner’s only race’.

Without a race drive for 2006, Narain secured a test drivers role at Williams partnering the very experienced Alex Wurz as back-up for Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg. He continues shares this role in 2007 with Kazuki Nakajima, but has already stepped back into the racing limelight by taking the seat of over India’s hitherto unsuccessful A1GP challenge.