Karthikeyan starts testing in Valencia

After a largely uneventful season in a Formula 1 race seat back in 2005 when he drove for the erstwhile Jordan Formula 1 team and a couple of seasons testing for Williams in 06 and 07, Narain Karthikeyan is back at the helm of an F1 car. With the 2011 season officially getting underway with the first test sessions kicking off in Valencia today, Narain put in 45 laps in the 2010 HRT car. Most teams have already shown off their 2011 lineup, but with HRT still to finalise on Karthikeyan’s team mate for 2011, it was up to the Indian driver to take up testing duties in Spain. It wasn’t a flyer of a start to Narain’s return to the pinnacle of motorsport, but then again no one really expected it to be – what with him having to readjust to the physics of Formula 1, a brand new tyre supplier and having stayed away from machinery as sophisticated as an F1 car for over three years while he was racing in the A1GP, NASCAR and Superleague Championships. Moreover, with HRT’s 2011 car still under wraps, Narain also had to make do with the team’s outgoing car, which also meant that laptimes would be consistently different than the teams running their new cars.

Speaking about the first day of testing, HRT Team Principal Collin Kolles said, “In the morning, the track was still green but improved during the day. We had a good day and could run out our programme. Narain made no mistakes, and he is still building up his speed. He has to adapt himself again to Formula One, to get used to the high G-forces and to the new Pirelli tyres. We have to analyse the data from today´s testing and I am looking forward to seeing how Narain progresses.” Karthikeyan clocked the 12th fastest time of the day with a lap of 1:18.020 while Sebastian Vettel led the field with a time of 1:13.769. Testing will continue on till Thursday.

Karthikeyan testing at Valencia