THE FIRST free practice session on Friday in Istanbul created history in Formula1. Narain Karthikeyan & Karun Chandhok both took to the track for the 2011 Turkish Grand Prix, a first in Formula1, where two Indian drivers competed in the same Grand Prix weekend.
Narain & Karun have been India’s only F1 drivers till date & both debuted in Formula1 in separate seasons. This meant that India was always represented in the sport via a driver and of course the only Indian Formula1 team, Force India. However, on the Friday of the Turkish Grand Prix, the time sheets showed 2 Indian drivers & Force India. Quite a proud moment for Indian F1 fans!
Narain Karthikeyan performed his regular Friday practice duties, while Karun Chandhok replaced Heikki Kovalainnen in the first free practice session. Karun would’ve rejoiced the opportunity to test, especially since he last tested in Australia, but the weather played spoilsport. The practice session was declared wet & saw Karun drive only 6 laps & finish 21st. His fastest lap was 13 seconds off Fernando Alonso’s pace (who topped the time sheet in the session) & was about 4 seconds slower than Narain Karthikeyan. The wet session meant that most teams & drivers chose to perform system checks & installation laps rather than aim to set a competitive laptime, which also means that Karun’s laptimes don’t reveal his actual pace in the Team Lotus Racing car.
Narain Karthikeyan on the other hand didn’t enjoy the best of his qualifying results after being outpaced by team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi by a second. Tonio even managed to beat a Virgin Racing car in Saturday’s qualifying session, thereby proving that the HRTs did have the pace challenge the Virgins.
Force India Formula One team brought a new front wing to Turkey as a part of their car development program. Their drivers enjoyed a trouble-free qualifying session that saw the drivers start the race from P12 & P13. The team showed improved pace in qualifying and was only beaten by the Williams of Rubens Barrichello amongst the mid-grid teams.
Come Race Day, Narain Karthikeyan finished 3 laps behind race winner Sebastian Vettel, but managed to finish ahead of team-mate Liuzzi, who had a problem with his front tyres in the race. Narain stopped thrice as compared to Liuzzi who had to pit 4 times. Narain clocked HRTs fastest lap of the race, which was also 7 tenths faster than his team-mate.
Narain has completed 2 full race distances out of the three GPs that he has competed in. While HRTs car development program is key to Narain’s progress, an improvement in qualifying pace is something Narain can always work on.
Force India ended their Turkish Grand Prix with a DNF & a 13th place. Adrian Sutil managed to finish 13th, while Paul di Resta registered his first DNF (Did Not Finish) in Formula1 after the team identified that one of the wheels weren’t fitted properly during a pit-stop.
While their qualifying pace improved in Turkey, there was a dip in the team’s race pace. Sutil managed a 16th fastest laptime in the race, whereas Paul managed 18th. The team is pushing to bring a new aero package in the next few races and that will decide much of their fate in the European leg of the season. Reliability is Force India’s key strength & adding some more speed will be the focus of the team management.
The next stop for the Formula1 circus is Barcelona in Spain and it waits to be seen if Karun will be given the FP1 drive at the Circuit de Catalunya. As for Narain & Force India, it will be business as usual as they will attempt to find pace & beat the competition.
