SYDNEY: Narain Karthikeyan’s first weekend back in Formula One was a huge let down but the Indian is confident he will finally go racing at next month’s Malaysian Grand Prix.
After five years out of the sport, the 34-year-old Chennai native returned with Formula One stragglers HRT for last weekend’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
With no pre-season testing and virtually no time in practice, however, Karthikeyan and his Italian teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi were unable even to straggle as they failed to qualify for the race.
“At the start of the week, we thought we were going to race because we knew the new car was capable of it, but it just took so long (to put the car together),” Karthikeyan told Reuters at the team’s hospitality at Albert Park.
“The majority of the work is done, but the fine details just go on and on and on. You needed a complete car or it doesn’t make any sense to go out.
“We know it is a really bad situation but there’s no point in complaining about it,” he added.
In the end, Karthikeyan got out for the final practice session with absolutely no set up and understandably set a time 17 seconds behind Sebastian Vettel in the quickest car.
Qualifying was better but both HRT cars still failed to set a time within 107 per cent of the top time in the first qualifying session, the criteria for taking part in the race.
“For me, it was very difficult because I’ve driven here only once in 2005 and I had to get back into the rhythm of things,” he said. — AFP