Narain Karthikeyan, the only Indian to take part in Formula One Grand Prix, says opportunities are to be grabbed in the fast world of F1. Anuradha SenGupta found out how.
Coimbatore is the city that was put on the Formula One racing map by a man who grew up here. In 2005, Narain Karthikeyan became the first Indian ever to race the F1 circuit. This year, a second test-driver of Team Williams that is currently ranked at No 5, he is going sit out through the season. It's not going to be easy, but then CNN-IBN found out that Being Narain Karthikeyan is about taking small, patient steps towards a near-impossible dream.
Anuradha SenGupta: So, what was it like growing up in Coimbatore?
Narain Karthikeyan: Well, in Coimbatore I had nothing much to do. I am very proud of my city. But it's just that as a kid, you don't have much to do. But I really like it now since it's a quiet place and away from the fast-paced life as compared to the bigger towns. When I come here, I am a little bit chilled out here.
Anuradha SenGupta: Is there one moment in your life when you decided and said that this is where I want to be professionally. For a man who’s always been on the driver's seat, the past 12 years has been, a cliché though, a roller-coaster ride, isn’t it?
Narain Karthikeyan: I didn't follow much of Formula One then. Of course I knew the big names, but I was more into rallying. But one of my friends went to Germany and he brought back a Formula One season review on video and that was the first time. They had on-board footage of drivers driving those cars. That’s when I found it exciting and that's when I just changed. That was what put me into the path of single-seaters and gave me an ambition to become India's first Formula One driver.
Anuradha SenGupta: Do you remember the videos?
Narain Karthikeyan: Yeah, I still have them. I think it's about a 1989 championship. I kept watching that video and I knew it so well that I knew every word of the commentary.
Anuradha SenGupta: You make it a point to be at home on December 31 every year? Is that true?
Narain Karthikeyan: Yeah, I just believe that whether it is business or whatever you do, you tend to start off the New Year with what you do best. So, I have been doing this since 1993. I am amused how you know about this since I don't talk about it with anybody. So, normally when people ask me what am I doing on December 31, I tell people that I just want to be at home.
Anuradha SenGupta: You mean to say you don't go out because of this?
Narain Karthikeyan: No, not at 12 O'clock. After that, but not before that.
Anuradha SenGupta: At 12 midnight, you have to be driving?
Narain Karthikeyan: Yes. When the year changes.
Anuradha SenGupta: This is an incredible story!
Narain Karthikeyan: Yes, but it is true.
Anuradha SenGupta: And it doesn't matter what you are driving?
Narain Karthikeyan: No. It has to be a proper racing car. That is why I can't go anywhere. It is not just a normal go-kart that everyone drives. It's a proper racing car and it is damn fast.
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Anuradha SenGupta: When you look at the sport, there is a lot of glamour attached to it. There are women hanging around the tracks. How does that figure in when you approach the game?
Narain Karthikeyan: Well, you can lead a glamorous and flamboyant lifestyle if you choose to. But it depends from person to person.
Anuradha SenGupta: You don't choose to?
Narain Karthikeyan: Obviously not. I am married now.
Anuradha SenGupta: But even before marriage, you always led a very quiet and focused life.
Narain Karthikeyan: I was in a sport where no Indian had ever made it big. So I had to put in all the focus in the sport rather than doing other things in life and that has gotten me this far.
Anuradha SenGupta: What kind of relationships do you develop with the team?
Narain Karthikeyan: I had a great relationship with my teammates, Monterro. Towards the end of the year, my relationship with the top management became very sour because they didn't like the way I functioned and it was vice-versa. I don't really want to pinpoint and blame anyone.
Anuradha SenGupta: But there was a perception that you were blaming the car all the time. Is that a right perception or were you just stating facts?
Narain Karthikeyan: That is just how much the Indian media knows. And in technical terms if I had a tyre-blistering problem, they thought it was an excuse. See, they don't understand what under-stayer or over-stayer or blistering of a tyre is. It was a bit unfortunate that they had to say some things, which were totally not true. That's the way life is. And like me, India is also getting educated in Formula One.
Anuradha SenGupta: Do your sponsors get affected?
Narain Karthikeyan: Yeah, Obviously. You don't want to keep saying negative things because sponsors believe in the team and yourself. And they back the entire project.
Anuradha SenGupta: How much do all the people around you impact your performance?
Narain Karthikeyan: I think it doesn't do well for your confidence if people start blaming you for things, which is not really your fault. But then, there was one piece of advice that Sachin Tendulkar gave me and that was not to read good or bad things in the media. So, from then on I don't read anything whether good or bad.
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Anuradha SenGupta: At one level, there was a lot of adulation and expectation, everybody wanted a piece of the Narain action. And then halfway, the interest started flagging and people started saying he is not living up to expectations.
Narain Karthikeyan: I think with Jordan we had limited expectations and in India they wanted me to beat Michael Schumacher and it wasn't possible. And there are more astronauts than Formula One drivers. So it’s not easy to get what you want.
Anuradha SenGupta: Finishing the last season, his debut year at number 18, Narain is starting the new one in a new role - second test-driver for Team Williams. In January when you announced this, again there was this feeling that 'oh second test-driver'. "He is not going to get to drive," Whereas in Jordan at least he was driving. How does one understand this? Is this a strategic decision?
Narain Karthikeyan: Yeah, it is a very strategic decision and for my long-term future, it is going to be a great opportunity to be involved with the Williams. They have won nine world championships. And it is a decision that I chose. I mean, I could have got into a team to get back into the grid. But what is the point? I have learnt that for a year now. It is time to move on.
Anuradha SenGupta: So, what will a second test-diver at Williams allow you to do?
Narain Karthikeyan: I get to drive one of the best Formula One cars of the world. I get to experience driving those cars, and technically, I become better.
Anuradha SenGupta: Would you think it would have been better for you to have done this in the first year instead of starting off as a Formula One driver?
Narain Karthikeyan: When an opportunity comes, why not go and take it? And normally, drivers don't get to the top team straight away. They have to learn here and they progress on to bigger things. Even Michael Schumacher made his debut with Jordan and he's where he is after the debut. Some have to wait and see how things shape up. Because in Formula One, nothing is certain.
Anuradha SenGupta: It's your 18th Grand Prix this year, do you get itchy fingers and feet when you see other people driving?
Narain Karthikeyan: Obviously, you want to race as a race driver. So it happens.
Anuradha SenGupta: And now that you have tasted it?
Narain Karthikeyan: Yes, especially the testing with Williams went very well. Second overall, quickest overall, even the right IQ. So speed is not a problem.
Anuradha SenGupta: You're fast, and the way you did it was not fast?
Narain Karthikeyan: That was the first time I drove that car. So just wanted to see what it was like. It is pretty good for a road car.
Anuradha SenGupta: The first Grand Prix of the year starts on March 12 in Bahrain, and what will you be doing exactly? What will you be monitoring?
Narain Karthikeyan: All the data for practice are available and I will be with the team for the briefings and the meetings to see how they work. I am a reserve driver, something may happen to me because these people are in a position to do bigger things.
Anuradha SenGupta: How often does this happen?
Narain Karthikeyan: It is a bad way of thinking, but these things do happen. Because they are so tired, they can have injuries. So anything can happen.
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Anuradha SenGupta: People say that you have a burning ambition and you are single-mindedly focused on where you want to be. You want be World Number One Formula One race driver, isn't it?
Narain Karthikeyan: It is very easy to say you want to be world number one, but you need to dream big for that. I wanted to be India's number one Formula One driver and people thought that it was just a dream. But I have made it a reality. My next step would be to score points on a regular basis and win a race and dream bigger and bigger. To take one step at a time.
Anuradha SenGupta: People are talking about you not finishing four or five races. Why do you think that happened?
Narain Karthikeyan: Three of them due to bad luck and two of them due to my mistakes.
Anuradha SenGupta: What was your mistake?
Narain Karthikeyan: Just pushing the car too hard I guess. Though it is very easy to stand here and say that I should have not. But the circumstances of that race were that I was positioned to battle with another team. So I kept pushing, made a mistake and it was gone.
Anuradha SenGupta: If you had to rate yourself for the year 2005, on what parameters would you rate yourself?
Narain Karthikeyan: I think in terms of qualifying, I wasn't a better qualifier in the rookie case. In terms of race pace, I think I tried to push a bit too hard. I should have just backed off and said that the Jordan car I was driving was incapable of this.
Even the one rule-help did not help me in my driving start, because unfortunately, last year the rule stayed only for one race. Which means for a rookie, it was very hard to conserve one set of tyres for the entire race.
But this year, it has gone back to the old rule, wherein you can conserve six sets of tyres or how many ever you want. That way, I was a bit unlucky because my driving style killed the tyres a lot earlier then my teammates. And that was a misfortune.
Anuradha SenGupta: How would you rate yourself in 2005 given all the parameters that you had? Were you better than anyone else?
Narain Karthikeyan: I don't want to say that because they are so many aspects to it. There's the racing, there's the qualifying and many other things. I think for a rookie, I did a good job. And after Monttero, in the race situation, there was no one else for a long time. And if you take, I am one of the top ten in the history of Formula One to have finished 80 per cent of the races in debut season. I guess it's not too bad.
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Anuradha SenGupta: You are a businessman and a sportsman, not everyone has to do that?
Narain Karthikeyan: Formula One is a bit too different. Because until Formula One, you need to find a lot of sponsorship to drive. It's not like cricket where you get into a stuff and you put it in your pocket. And after 10 years' drive, you get your money for yourself. This is a different kind of sport, where you have to be a businessman to negotiate things.
Anuradha SenGupta: You may not be a businessman now necessarily, but over the past 10 years could you be one?
Narain Karthikeyan: For the past 10 years, it's more of my family, my father and my brother who are into business, and I thank them.
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Anuradha SenGupta: Your father was also a rally driver. It was his hobby. Did he understand that in the beginning that you wanted to be a Formula One driver?
Narain Karthikeyan: In the beginning, he thought that it was a passion that would go away. But once I started winning the races, they said it was alright to be one.
Anuradha SenGupta: To do something we have to throw tantrums. Did you have to do anything to prove your point of wanting to be an F1 driver?
Narain Karthikeyan: I am sure I did that at some point of time.
Anuradha SenGupta: What do you really have to do to get where you are?
Narain Karthikeyan: You need to push 110 per cent and wherever there is an opportunity, you grab it with both your hands. For example, to go to the racing school, Winfield School, France. I had to get good grades in my 12th standard. I studied extra hard for that and got decent grades and got an admission.
Anuradha SenGupta: When you were growing and you were bitten by the racing bug, I believe it also bit your friends. Why don't we get to hear from them?
Narain Karthikeyan: Because I dreamt big and they didn't. They did not get the opportunities that I got. They were content with racing in the local scene and I wasn't.
Anuradha SenGupta: Don't you want to let your hair down and relax for the moment? Are you doing that?
Narain Karthikeyan: In some ways, I think so.
Anuradha SenGupta: You are single-minded. Are you driving and are you enjoying life?
Narain Karthikeyan: I have probably the greatest job in the world, to drive a Formula One car. So obviously, I am having fun, though there are parts when I don’t.
Anuradha SenGupta: The fact that you are an F1 driver, does it excite your wife or she just lives with it?
Narain Karthikeyan: She is young and I am sure she is excited. And very proud that her husband is a Formula One driver.
Anuradha SenGupta: Are you boring?
Narain Karthikeyan: It is better to have a boring image than to have a flamboyant image. Because F1 is all about glamour and people think you have a great lifestyle, which is not right. I am still new to Formula One and still going up. So it is very difficult.
Anuradha SenGupta: You have to live in different countries before you reach the F1 circuit and you have lived in Japan for one year. What was that like?
Narain Karthikeyan: That was boring.
Anuradha SenGupta: For now, the plan is to race for as long as he can. And when that's done, not surprisingly he will do something with cars.
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