Narain Karthikeyan

At 47 years old, Narain Karthikeyan has this physical status:

Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan (born 14 January 1977) is a racing driver who was India's first Formula One racer.

He has competed in A1GP and the Le Mans Series.

In his single-seater career, he has won several races in the A1GP, British F3 world series, Formula Asia, and the British Formula Ford & Opel series.

In 1994 & 1996, he won the British Formula Ford Winter Series in 1994 & Formula Asia Championships.

In 2000 and the World Nissan series, he came in fourth overall.

He made his Formula One debut with the Jordan team in 2005 and was a Williams F1 test pilot in 2006 and 2007.

Karthikeyan, like many other former F1 racers, jumped into stock car racing and drove the #60 Safe Auto Insurance Company Toyota Tundra for Wyler Racing in the 2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

He returned to F1 in 2011 with the HRT team in 2012 and was scheduled to drive for them in the 2013 season as well.

However, HRT was not included in the FIA's 2013 entry list, so Karthikeyan was left homeless.

Karthikeyan competed in the Japanese Super Formula series from 2014-2017.

He ended his single-seater career in Japan in 2019 by joining the SuperGT series. In 2010, the government of India granted Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award.

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Family background and early career

Karthikeyan was born in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, and was born with a passion for the Lord Shiva. He attended Stanes Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School in Coimbatore, Coimbatore. His father, a former Indian national rally champion who won the South India Rally seven times, sparked his interest in motorsport at an early age. Karthikeyan finished on the podium in his first ever race in a Formula Maruti, with the aim of becoming India's first Formula One racer. He continued to Elf Winfield Racing School in France, demonstrating his talent by qualifying as a semi-finalist in the Pilote Elf Competition for Formula Renault cars in 1992. He returned to India for the 1993 season to compete in Formula Maruti, and in the same year, he also participated in the Formula Vauxhall Junior Championship in Great Britain. He gained valuable insight into European racing, and he was eager to return for the following year.

He returned to the United Kingdom in 1994, racing in the Formula Ford Zetec series as the number two works Vector racer for the Foundation Racing team. In a support run for the Portuguese Grand Prix held in Estoril, the highlight of the season was a podium finish. He also competed in the British Formula Ford Winter Series, becoming the first Indian driver to win any championship in Europe.

In 1995, Karthikeyan qualified for just four races in the Formula Asia Championship. Nevertheless, he regained energy and was able to finish second in the Shah Alam, Malaysia, despite being second. He appeared in full season in 1996 and became the first Indian and first Asian to win the Formula Asia International series. With the Nemesis Motorsport team, he returned to the United Kingdom in 1997 to compete in the British Formula Opel Championship, winning pole position and placing sixth in the overall points standings.

Karthikeyan made his debut in the British Formula 3 Championship with the Carlin Motorsport team in 1998. He won two third-place finishes in the final two races of the season, at Spa-Francorchamps and Silverstone, placing 12th overall, despite being restricted to only ten rounds. He remained in the championship for 1999, finishing on the podium five times, including two wins at Brands Hatch. His season also included two pole positions, three fastest laps, and two lap records, earning him to sixth place in the championship. He also competed in the Macau Grand Prix, qualifying in sixth position and finishing sixth in the second series. He was the first racing driver to win in British F3 since 1964, and Carlin has been unbeaten in terms of race wins in the British F3 Championship. He came in fourth overall in the British F3 Championship in 2000 and then took pole position and fastest laps in the Macau Grand Prix, owing to his efforts in the event. He also won both the International F3 Championship at Spa-Francorchamps and the Korea Super Prix.

Karthikeyan started in the Formula Nippon F3000 Championship in 2001, finishing the year in the top ten. He became the first Indian to drive a Formula One vehicle in the same year, with Jaguar Racing Team at Silverstone testing on June 14th. He was then given a test drive in the Jordan-Honda EJ11 at Silverstone, who was ecstatic with his results. Karthikeyan put on a second act at Mugello, Italy, on October 5th, finishing just half a second behind Jordan's lead driver Jean Alesi.

He entered the Telefónica World Series with Team Tata RC Motorsport in 2002, gaining pole position and establishing the fastest non-Formula One lap time at Interlagos Circuit in Brazil. Karthikeyan won two races and gained three other podium positions on his way to fourth overall in the championship, despite being renamed Superfund World Series in 2003. Following those results, he earned his second Formula One test drive, this time with the Minardi team. He had been running for a season in 2004, but was unable to attract the necessary sponsorship funds to seal the deal.

In 2004, he continued to win in Valencia, Spain, and Magny-Cours, France.

Formula One career

Karthikeyan announced on February 1, 2005, that he had signed a preliminary contract with the Jordan Formula One team and confirmed that he would be their top racer for the 2005 Formula One season, making him India's first Formula One racing driver. Tiago Monteiro, a Portuguese driver, was his partner. In order to gain his superlicence at the Silverstone Circuit on Tuesday, Karthikeyan completed the mandatory testing distance of 300 kilometers in a Formula One car.

Karthikeyan finished in 12th place in his first run in the Australian Grand Prix. He finished in 15th, two laps behind champion Giancarlo Fisichella after a poor start that saw him fall to 18th place by the end of the first lap. He earned his first points in the 2005 United States Grand Prix, where all but three teams were disqualified due to a tyre safety controversy. He finished fourth, a step behind fellow driver Monteiro, but behind him. His highest finish was 11th overall, outside of the USGP. He was the fastest man to run for a long time in the 2005 Japanese Grand Prix free trials, finishing 11th in the fifth series. He came in 15th place at the 2005 Chinese Grand Prix. Karthikeyan crashed his Jordan into a wall at the Chinese race in an unfortunate end to his 2005 season, but was unhurt and able to offer an interview afterwards.

The change in the team's leadership caused some reservations about Karthikeyan's future as the team was overhauled and renamed Midland for the 2006 season. He revealed that he would not be driving for Midland the following year, owing to their request that he pay as much as $11.7 million to secure his spot on the team.

Karthikeyan tried for Williams at Spain on December 8th, finishing fifth, outpacing the named Williams second driver, Nico Rosberg, who finished ninth. Williams announced Karthikeyan as their fourth driver on January 27, 2006. He would serve as the team's third driver alongside Alexander Wurz, who had been announced earlier. In 2007, he was retained as a reserve test driver for Williams alongside Kazuki Nakajima. Karthikeyan said he was "blown away" by the difference between Formula One's stragglers and a top-flight team.

Later this year, he was spotted with the Spyker (previously Jordan) Formula One team after their driver Christijan Albers was dismissed, but Sakon Yamamoto took the wheel. Because of Tata's withdrawal of support for Williams F1 (Karthikeyan's top sponsor), Nakajima received the bulk of testing duties, and Karthikeyan was left out.

When the Spyker F1 team was purchased out by Vijay Mallya around 2007, Karthikeyan was involved with a race with the new Force India Formula One team in 2008. However, he did not even get to test for the team. In January 2008, he was also connected to a drive with the Super Aguri team as one of the terms of an Indian consortium investment in the company. The agreement was not reached, and he continued to drive for A1 Team India. When Karun Chandhok agreed to drive for the Hispania Racing F1 Team, he was India's only Formula One racer until the 2010 season.

Following five years away from active participation in the championship, Karthikeyan revealed on January 6th that he would drive for the Hispania team in the 2011 season. He announced the agreement on Twitter, saying it would be a "dream come true to race in front of the home crowd in the Indian GP in October" and adding that Tata Group's financial backers had been "instrumental."

Karthikeyan twice set the lowest finisher in a Formula 1 event while driving for a small team and the increasing reliability of modern Formula 1 cars. Jaime Alguersuari's single retirement placed Karthikeyan in 23rd position after he was overtaken by teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi on the final lap. However, there were no retirements in the European Grand Prix, so Karthikeyan fell one more times by being the 24th car to cross the finish line.

Karthikeyan was withdrawn by Daniel Ricciardo for the remaining races of the season, except the Indian Grand Prix, on June 30, 2011, but he was involved in first practice in Germany, Singapore, Japan, and Korea on Friday.

Karthikeyan would take over Liuzzi for the Indian Grand Prix on October 23, 2011, according to a news on October 23rd. Karthikeyan was disqualified by 0.022 seconds to finish 22nd in qualifying, but he came in 24th and last. Despite suffering from injury in the first lap of the season, Karthikeyan was able to defeat Ricciardo by 31.8 seconds in the race to finish 17th. Liuzzi was recalled to substitute Karthikeyan ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Karthikeyan had signed for the HRT crew for the 2012 season, partnering Pedro de la Rosa, on February 3rd, 2012. He and his colleague Pedro de la Rosa were unable to qualify in the Australian Grand Prix. Both the HRTs managed to qualify in Malaysia, with Karthikeyan starting 23rd due to a 5-place gear box penalty for Heikki Kovalainen, the HRTs gambled to start the race on full wet tyres, whilst the other cars started on intermediate tyres. As the rain increased, the gamble paid off as other vehicles had to pit for full wets, advancing Karthikeyan to a points-paying tenth position before the safety car was withdrawn due to heavy rain. After a few laps behind the safety car, the track was dry enough for intermediate tyres and a few drivers pitted as the safety car returned to life, but McLaren's Jenson Button crashed into him while racing for position. Karthikeyan suffered injury but not before, but he was slated for intermediate tyres, putting him to the back of the field, bar teammate de la Rosa, who had a missed a drive-through penalty. Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull suffered a puncture after hitting Karthikeyan's front wing, causing Vettel to pit and replace the punctured tyre, which dropped Vettel from 4th position to 11th, behind de la Rosa; Karthikeyan finished last in 21st, but he was given a 20-second post-race penalty for his participation in the crash, leaving him in 22nd place and last, behind de la Rosa.

Christian Horner, the race, Vettel, and Red Bull CEO, sluggishly criticized Karthikeyan's driving, with Vettel calling Karthikeyan a "idiot." Karthikeyan retaliated against Vettel, calling him a "cry baby." Later, Kartikeyan called a halt with Vettel, expressing his admiration for Vettel's capabilities and saying, "I think we have to deal with it in a mature way and forget about it."

Kartikeyan qualified last for the following five races (bar in Spain, where Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from qualifying and Monaco, where Sergio Pérez crashed without setting a time) but in Bahrain and Canada, he finished 24th and last twice due to other drivers' grid penalties. He came in second in China, behind Caterham's Heikki Kovalainen. He finished 21st in Bahrain and was ranked ahead of Bruno Senna's Williams who resigned due to brake issues. He retired after a wheel nut failure on lap 22 due to a botched pit stop. He began in Monaco, ranked second, ahead of Perez and the suspended Pastor Maldonado, who were rated 15th in the series, ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button, who retired after collision injury with Kovalainen. He resigned in Canada on lap 22 after suffering a brake failure on lap 22, which made him spin in turn 1 and halt later in the lap. Pedro de la Rosa, his teammate, was fired after a similar problem two laps later.

Timo Glock missed qualifying and the race due to sickness at the European Grand Prix Karthikeyan for the first time in the season, ahead of the Marussian Pic of Charles Pic. He finished the race in 18th, behind Pic and de la Rosa, but ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who was able to recover after being crashing out with two laps remaining. He was the last classified finisher in the next three seasons before being forced to leave Hungary due to a broken suspension. He qualified last in Belgium, finishing 13th in the event with good energy and then crashed out on lap 30 in broken suspension. For the first time this year, he out-qualified his teammate de la Rosa, but he finished last in 19th, placing him in 19th place. He qualified him again at Singapore, this time by over a second, but he crashed out at turn 16 on lap 30.

Karthikeyan qualified in 24th at Suzuka after crashed in practice and was then forced to use an old-spec chassis floor. He had been running ahead of Pic and de la Rosa for a long time before fading on lap 32 with a string of vibrations. He used a one-stop strategy in Korea and finished in 20th, nearly a lap behind Pic in 19th. He finished last in India, despite minor wing damage from a crash at the first corner. On lap 9 in Abu Dhabi, he recovered in spectacular style after his steering broke and he was rear-ended by Nico Rosberg. He came in 24th in Austin amid concerns that both he and his compatriot will die before attempting to heat the tyres in practice on the brand-new circuit and then finishing in 22nd, with Vettel accusing him of being lapped and allowing Lewis Hamilton to take the lead. During the tumultuous opening of the season, he ranked 23rd in Brazil and peaked as high as 11th. He eventually fell back and finished last in 18th, placing him in last place. He finished the season in 24th with zero points.

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