Narain Karthikeyan

- Published on Dec 5th, 2010 by The Badger

Life before F1

Karthikeyan first came to prominence with a three-year stint in British F3, culminating in an impressive fourth in the standings in 2000. After that he switched to Japan for a season of Formula Nippon before heading back to Europe to contest the World Series by Nissan. After three-years here - with a best finish of fourth in 2003 - he made the leap to F1.

F1 Career

Kartikeyan landed a Jordan seat in 2005 following the team's sale to Russian billionaire Alex Shnaider. He wasn't wild about getting top-notch drivers in, just keen to pay the bills, so the well funded Indian - the first man from his nation to race in F1 - made sense.

It was an underwhelming year. His only points came in the U.S Grand Prix - where just six drivers started - and there he was beaten to the podium by team-mate Tiago Monteiro, Generally the Portugese - no world beater himself - had the upper hand, and no one was too shocked when it was he and not Narain who held on to his seat when the team became Midland in 2006.

Karthikeyan subsequently became a tester for Williams and was linked with a drive at Super Aguri and later Force India. Neither came to fruiition and he subsequently kept his competitive instincts sharp by racing in A1GP, Superleague Formula and the Le Mans 24 Hours. In 2010 he switched to America's NASCAR Truck Series (the third tier of the stock car championship). He ended his rookie year 30th in the points standings and was also voted the series' most popular driver, a title he sadly won't be able to defend as he returns to F1 with Hispania.