Narain being replaced by Hispania Racing Team

The next round of Formula One racing at Silverstone will see, Narain Karthikeyan, the only Indian driver in F1 being replaced by an Aussie Daniel Ricciardo. He wil be making his debut in a Formula One race as driver at Silverstone with the Hispania Racing Team.

“Hispania Racing and Red Bull Racing signed a collaboration deal today which allows young Australian talent Daniel Ricciardo to join the Spanish team as its official driver. The current Formula 1 World Champion team has shown trust in Hispania Racing’s project and has chosen José Ramón Carabante’s team as a support for the formation and development of its driver. Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo, who was behind the steering-wheel in every first practice session of the eight grand prix up to now, will finally see his dream come true and become a Formula 1 race-driver starting from next week’s British Grand Prix. Daniel Ricciardo joins Narain Karthikeyan and Vitantonio Liuzzi as official drivers of the Spanish Formula 1 team, Hispania Racing.” is what has been officially stated by the Hispania Racing team.

Currently the 22 year old lad is a reserve driver with the Toro Rosso racing team. He has shown good promise in his driving skills and this will be a good platform to launch his drive into the Formula One driver’s list. Narain is still a part of the team as a driver but it is almost set to launch Daniel alongside Liuzzi in the next race. It is not clear yet if Daniel will drive the remaining of the races in the season instead of Karthikeyan, who had brought a lot of sponsors for the team.

Last year Karun Chandok was at the receiving end at Hispania racing when he was replaced by the Japanese, Sako Yamamoto due to bigger sponsorships brought by the Japanese driver.

Narain Karthikeyan had started his Formula One career in a distinctive bright yellow Jordan, back in 2005. Although there was a great jubilation and a matter of pride for being the first ever Indian driver to reach the pinnacle of motorsport racing, he never could make a mark in the Formula One circuit. His racing was far from impressive and at times he seemed to not keep the massive car under control. He seemed like a rally driver let loose on the Formula One track. He would be seen driving over the grass, often locking up on the curves and never made it past the back markers. Because of sponsorship problem and not being able to impress as a driver, he lost his place as a driver but managed to become a test driver for the Williams Team. Subsequently with no driving seat in sight, he left the Formula One circuit and joined the NASCAR series in the US.

This season Narian made a comeback with the Hispania Racing Team but there seemed no improvement in his driving. He almost in every race ended up on the last grid in qualifying. Even as compared to the back markers timings in the qualifying he was off target by over a second, which is a lot by Formula One standards. Narain would probably be given a driving seat at the inaugural Indian Grand Prix towards the end of this season on 30th October. It would help attract more sponsors for the team and would also bring in a lot of excitement amongst the crowd to see a local talent racing on the Formula One track in India.

Tags: Daniel Ricciardo, F1, Formula One, Hispania Racing Team, HRT, Indian Grand Prix, Narain Karthikeyan, Silverstone