Chandhok secures F1 drive
Karun Chandhok becomes second Indian F1 driver as Hispania prepare for debut season.
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| Chandhok joins Narain Karthikeyan to become India’s second F1 driver [GALLO/GETTY] |
Karun Chandhok will become India’s second Formula One driver when he makes his F1 race debut with new team Hispania Racing.
The 26-year-old Chennai-born driver will partner Brazilian Bruno Senna at the team when the season starts in Bahrain next week.
Chandhok raced in F1 feeder series GP2 and has been linked previously with a Force India seat.
“We have been very impressed with Karun’s performance in GP2,” said team principal Colin Kolles.
“It will be great for the sport to have an Indian driver on the grid for the first Indian Grand Prix.”
Team debut
The announcement on Thursday came as owner Jose Ramon Carabante and team
principal Colin Kolles unveiled the team’s car livery.
The Spanish team, which was previously called Campos Meta, missed all of February’s pre-season testing. The Cosworth-powered car was unveiled on Thursday in the south-eastern city of Murcia where the first Spanish F1 team will be based.
The team will make their debut at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on March 14.
The only other Indian driver to have raced in Formula One was Narain Karthikeyan for the Jordan team, at the time also run by Kolles, in 2005.
Chandhok also partnered Senna, nephew of the late triple world champion Ayrton, in the GP2 support series.
India, with a circuit under construction near New Delhi, is due to make its debut on the race calendar next year.