Comments on: Karun Chandhok is popular with Bernie Ecclestone but is he ready for F1?

By: Pete

Pete — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:29:28 +0000

He’s already 26yo. I don’t think another season or two will do the trick. Try a talent implant…much more likely to succeed. Maybe he could ask Michael S where he got his talent form and get some of the same.

By: Pete

Pete — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:21:09 +0000

Ticket sales? Try TV ratings.

By: Pete

Pete — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:16:39 +0000

Yep.

By: Pete

Pete — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:09:01 +0000

Hahahaha…yeah I agree. Looks like Bernie went for the ratings potential on this one. Do you think he’s bank rolled this guy’s sudden rise to F1 status in the hope of massive media coverage in India? I’d love to have been a fly on the wall during the meetings between Bernie, the team and Chandhok. Do you think Chandhok actually got to say more than “hello Mr Ecclestone”? I doubt it.

By: Pete

Pete — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:56:19 +0000

So called? Have you ever watched Button’s steering through a series of corners while he’s lapping at race leader pace? Hardly any sawing back and forth of the steering wheel at all. There’s more to a successful F1 driver than “raw speed”. I’m not a Brit and I’m not a McClaren fan either but Button definately has a smooth, tyre friendly driving style. Sato was just freekin’ eratic!

By: Hairs

Hairs — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:13:49 +0000

I had no idea Obama was involved in F1 management. Bernie won’t be pleased there’s another rooster in the henhouse.

By: pranay

pranay — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:45:27 +0000

I think Karun deserves a drive in F1 now with three new teams coming he will perhaps go to Lotus,it will be great to see him in F1………
Gp2 is not the right way to judge a driver,look at Nelson piquet champion in GP2 what did he do in F1 Crash for Alonso in Singapore that is it,,,,And kobiyashi was not the front runner in GP2 But now he has scored 2 points in only his 2nd grand prix,,,,,Every GP2 can drive an f1 car,,they all have potential itz all about……….BELEIF

By: Kedhar

Kedhar — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:25:02 +0000

Also regarding Nk not doing good in A1gp, FYI last season the team was cash strapped to the point that they had to go borrowing parts from other teams and Nk had to pay for the insurance and flight tickets out of his own pockets. In the 3rd season the team had a bad technical package and Nk did the best he could with it and produced two brilliant wins.

To prove that he is capable of doing well in a good team, look at Lemans Series he has adapted very well to the LMP1 Audi R10 car and has been one of the quickest drivers in the series. I hope this answers all the bull**** that has been going around abt nk not being good enough.

By: Kedhar

Kedhar — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:19:15 +0000

Narain was definetly much more promising than Karun when he wasnt in f1. He was constantly up there in terms of pace, while Karun is simply struggling this season and he has already spent 3 seasons in gp2 not being able to produce a consistent performance. Nk was super quick in that jordan in 05 compared to his teammate, he was a bit erratic but that car was absolute **** and it wasnt rite for him. Thats why Sir Frank williams took him under his wing and if not for the pressure from Toyota im sure Narain would have gotten a driver. If u take the opinions of ppl like former world champion Emerson fittipaldi who said that Nk is a sure race winner and given a good car and package he would surely win in F1, you wouldnt doubt his abilities.

On the other hand KC needs to work hard, he has potential but needs to produce the results and match up with the competition.

By: Dev

Dev — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 04:03:46 +0000

that still does not stop Karun from winning in GP2 and Kartikeyan from winning in A1GP…

they are not doing good against not so good drivers in similar cars….

there is no need to have a Indian Nakajima… and make him look like a joker!!

By: Dev

Dev — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 02:44:54 +0000

Karun has not proved anything yet in GP2, Bruno beat him fair n square…. so for me he is not good enough to be in F1 yet…

As for Narain… he simply was not good enough… if he was … he would be doing pretty good at A1 … and he would have got F1 seat with some other team…

I hope Williams kick out Nakajima!!

By: not-indian-fan

not-indian-fan — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:57:46 +0000

i hate chandhok eyebrow…hahahaha…uglaaay!!!

By: Praveen Titus

Praveen Titus — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:47:48 +0000

Narain has oodles of raw talent, and only someone totally blind can even put him in the same league as Alex Yoong.

“British engineers who have worked with him, Sato and Button in Junior Level rated Sato, Him and Button in that orders when it came to raw speed and ability to setup car and provide technical feedback to the engineers.”

Facts is right. Narain finished 6th in his first ever Formula Nippon race in appalling conditions in 2001, a year after he dominated the F3 races at Macau (though he crashed out from the lead)and Korea for Trevor Carlin. Anyone can notice that whenever he’s been with the Carlin squad in British F3 (scoring his first win in 1999 and finishing 6th in the championship in his first full year in the series) and World Series (finishing 4th in the championship in 2003 after being 2nd in the standings for nearly the whole season), he has performed well. His dominant win at Brands Hatch in the 2007-08 A1GP season finale and his consistent peformance in the Le Mans Series this year prove that he is really one of the most skilled racing drivers in the world. Had the cirumstances been right in the Midland squad he could have scaled greater heights in F1, as his test driving stint with Williams proved.

But that’s not how an F1 driver should be. He should be able to perform in all circumstances. In British F3 in 2000 with Jackie Stewart’s team, he was already complaining that the team was giving better equipment to his team-mate Tomas Scheckter. In an interview with Autocar India Stewart said that the problem with Narain is his attitude, not talent. He just isn’t bent on winning all the time (pointing to the difference between Michael and Ralf Schumacher) and resorts to making excuses. That, apart from his aggressive driving style, should account for his fall from grace.

By: Jay Menon

Jay Menon — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:47:57 +0000

I dont know..I like Karun, he’s a supremely confident chap. I feel his problem is that he’s too aggressive, he needs good management I feel.

I believe he has the pace, but his talent needs to be nurtured, he needs the proper support

By: Sampaio

Sampaio — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:37:15 +0000

I made a mistake! It’s not Calcuta (founded in 1690 by the english), but Calicute. My mistake

By: Sampaio

Sampaio — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:33:22 +0000

Of course it was always there. And in portuguese history we don’t say Gama discovered India. In fact, he discovered the naval (by sea) path to India, which is a different thing!
But it was after Vasco da Gama’s arrival that India get really opened to the ocidental world. In a matter of 200 years you had portuguese, spanish, dutch, english people all over India, Indonesia, Japan. And by then, the power of the western countries was far more than the Eastern ones. In the second expedition Gama made to India, he knocked out Calcuta just by firing the cannons he had in his ships. It’s a rather interesting story, how a small country like Portugal had the naval supremacy in the Indian ocean between the XV and the XVI centuries, when they just had some 20 large ships.

By: Martin

Martin — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:17:33 +0000

Becuase it is cold as hell in finland..joking of course. They probably dont see the advantage in having it.

By: Martin

Martin — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:08:19 +0000

spot on

By: Martin

Martin — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:07:02 +0000

Bernie reccommending someone is by no certain term a great endorsement. If Bernie wants someone in the sport there is probably a monetary reason behind it for Bernie.

By: gabal

gabal — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:05:15 +0000

If I’m not mistaken Nakajima managed to reach Q3 on 3 occasions this season – that is opposed to Rosberg’s 11. On those 3 occasions he was fueled lighter then NR at Silverstone and got fifth and on two occasions he was fueled heavier and managed only 10th in qualifying. Hardly a conspiracy by team… What stopped him from matching Rosberg’s qualifying pace in other 9 races?

Sure, he had some bad luck and team made mistakes that cost him better results – the fact remains he is having a horrible season and is seriously outperformed by his team mate. Last year he could blame it on a car which wasn’t as competitive as FW31