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-   -   Why is Karthikeyan so slow? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/intl-motorsport/128856-why-karthikeyan-so-slow.html)

2012 lap times compared to Pedro:

Malay
+ .741
Chi
+.589
Bahrain
+.409
Spanish
+ 2.567
Monaco
+.834
Canada
+.838
european
+.356
British GP
+.298
German
+.318
Hungary
+.244
Belgian
+1.4s
Singapore
-.188

Suzuka
-1.349

India
+.001 [ :eek: ]

abu dhabi
-.616


Pedro has had more experience than him, but really, this is all depressing stuff. In some tracks I don't think anyone has lapped slower than him in the last decade.

When will Tata stop the cash flow? This is all an eyesore !! :deadhorse

Some of my friends who bother watching F1 once in a while always ask me this question. Someone said, in Monaco NK was racing with the track to stay away from crashing into barriers. :)

I don't know why he is so slow but I wish he stops racing in F1 and goes to some other series where he can be competitive. I also wish TATA stops wasting millions on him to get him a drive in a car which has no hope of even challenging the next best team.

Between Narain & Karun, who is faster? As per laps done on good performance Cars at MMSC, it is Narain.

I guess we can't blame him until he gets a better car? But then again, Pedro is better than him, and he's spent much less time with HRT.

Here's the difference between Vettel's ride and Karthikeyan's, @ 2012 Hungaroring.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2qRAhluOfM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THHVKFpLA5E

Interesting to see how the RBR hits a peak of 310 and karthikeyan's maxes at 300 and that too, for a second.

Ridiculous difference in how both exit turn 1 too. (:51- 1:00 in Karthikeyan's vid and 0:43 - 0:50 in vettel's. )

Most stark difference is turn 6. That HRT just will not go where you tell it to go!!! What a car!

There is no point in comparing Karthikeyan and Vettel. There will be a sea of difference.

And in F1, the first person you got to beat is your team-mate. Which Pedro is consistently doing.

Tata will do well to divert that investment for domestic Motorsports or sponsoring some young talents in driver academies.

What I forgot to say was that I was comparing the difference between the cars, as it becomes noticeable for us to see how horrible the HRT is. Of course I wouldn't compare the drivers lol: .

NK may not be performing well in F1 especially wrt Pedro but you cant take it away from him that he is still amongst India's fastest drivers.

Becoming successful in F1 doesnt happen overnight, you need to prep the driver from an young age. Not sure how much support and facilities he got while he was younger.

And Pedro is a much better driver than him, but lets not belittle NK achievements.

Remember Jensen Button was racing at the back for quite while untilBrawn transformed the car

It is also doubtful if a team like HRT with limited resources is able to support both drivers equally. Pedro may be getting better equipment at HRT which, combined with him being probably the better driver, inflates the difference between the teammates.

NK will always remain the 1st Indian in F1. That's a great achievement. After Jordan, he drove for HRT last year (part time) and he should have left it at that.

Driving this year alongside PDLR and getting beaten has only tarnished his reputation. Also, the money being spent on him for his seat at HRT can be better spent elsewhere in any sport. It's highly unlikely, given his age, that he will find some more speed and a team which will hire him for his talent and not money.

Are you seriously comparing Jenson and NK?

SFW gave Jenson a racing seat and he became the youngest point scorer at a time when only 1st 6 were given points. NK became their 4th driver (test driver) because of the sponsorship he brought. After TATA, pulled out he never got to even touch the car. Sorry, I admire NK for I know it can't be easy to reach F1 with facilities we have here but let's not compare him to anyone else.

Another question; would he fare better than any current drivers at better teams if he was given an option to drive, suppose Toro Rosso (that sounds too high!) or Caterham (Heikki is out of the question) ?

He wouldn't be in top 6, but he could end up somewhere between 9 to 15th positions.

It's all about money. If HRT has funds of RBR, then they would've had better car and finish better, only if they build a capable car.

I fail to understand what has background got to do with individual performance in the sporting field/track. When Saina Nehwal looses to top Chinese shuttle's we don't talk about what environment she came from, although when she wins its just an awesome feeling. Thats what differentiates a awesome sportsperson from a good one.

I am not passing judgements on NK, as i do not follow F1 anymore, nor i am as knowledgeable as some others. Maybe he is working things out before setting blistering pace. And this business of bringing sponsor to get a driving seat is pure un-sporty. The driving seat needs to go to driver with talent not driver with money.

Some of the reasons F1 is no longer my favorite sport, looks like i lack business acumen :).

Highly unlikely in my view. Karthikeyan was slow compared to Tiago Montiero in 2006, who at best was an average F1 driver (he struggled compared to Christian Albers in 2007 as well). Pedro De La Rosa, his current teammate, has always struggled to find a seat in Formula 1, in 2006 he was Montoya's replacement and was terribly unimpressive when compared to Raikkonen. Not to mention PDR is quite a bit older than Karthikeyan as well.

In his younger days with Jordan, he was fast occasionally but also erratic and very inconsistent. He has lost that too, now.

I am struggling to think of a single driver on this grid who may be slower than Karthikeyan at this point in time. He should just retire IMO. But then, he's driving one of the fastest cars in the world, so why not ? He's not there on performance.

Between Karthikeyan and Chandhok, I think KC has much more potential. He was quick in GP2 and was very close to Bruno Senna in their time together last year. However, I doubt he too is India's answer to Lewis Hamilton.

Well, Formula 1 has been like this for as long as I remember it. Normally, the brightest talents attract the most sponsors - Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher both got their first breaks with the help of good sponsorship money. Fernando Alonso's sponsors paid for a full season at Minardi (yes, he was a pay driver) in 2001 before he was signed up for Renault. Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have had massive funding from Mclaren and Red Bull through their march into F1. Paul Di Resta has got a lot of support from Mercedes over the years. The list is nearly endless.

However, there are often instances when a driver from a new F1 market starts appearing on the scene in lower formulae, in these cases sponsors will throw money at the driver regardless of talent or actual potential. I think this is what has happened in case of Karthikeyan