Sport | Motorsport
Chandhok's cheer is foreboding burning rubber
- By Ted Macauley, Special to Gulf News
- Published: 00:00 March 14, 2010
The bleakness surrounding a no-hoper in Formula One can never have been so gloomily threatening as it is for debutant Karun Chandhok in the Bahrain Grand Prix curtain-raiser.
He has never raced in Formula One, his car has not turned a wheel in pre-season testing, and rival drivers fear he may get in their way and constitute a danger in the 200-mph showdown.
Chandhok, only the second Indian driver ever, after Narain Karthikeyan, to contest a Grand Prix disputes the criticisms and avers that he is ready for the action...even if his new-team's Hispania Racing car is far from it.
How the man can be so cheery and upbeat in the circumstances is a mystery. Maybe he has taken heart from his support from the unlikeliest of sources — no less an authority than F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
Ecclestone has called upon India to get behind Chandhok, the underdog without a hope. He urges: "I am very happy that Karun has finally secured his place on the Formula One grid. And all India should be happy, too, and support him. It has all been a bit of a last-minute situation for him, but the main thing is that he is there and with a team albeit a new one... I believe it could take him to mid-season before he can show his full potential and I wish him all the best..."
Ecclestone's urgings no doubt are firmly based on the drop-off of television viewing figures last season — down to 520 million worldwide — and the fear the numbers may further reduce this time round.
For his part Chandhok, a modest performer in the lesser classes before his startling promotion to F1 with the Spanish team, hails Bernie's backing: "He has been massively supportive and I thank him."
Untested propositions
Says the 26-year-old: "We are a brand new team, with two rookies, me and Bruno Senna, no testing at all with our first serious drives here in Bahrain ... But this first race is going to be like a test session. If we finish, it is going to be a minor miracle."
And that's what is worrying the likes of insiders and ex-racer David Coulthard, now a BBC TV pundit. He said: "I think the world has gone mad. Asking Hispania to do this is irresponsible. F1 racing is dangerous enough."
The Scot, a winner 13 times in his career, fears that slow coaches Chandhok and Senna, stranded in cars well off the pace, could get in the way of the quickies.
He has a point. And we shall see...
Ted Macauley is a UK-based writer specialising in motorsport
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