[pranavt]

Originally Posted by polopm

Amen !
F1 Fans are quite vocal in slamming NK. He is a nice bloke, a true blood racer who races. Tried to do many things with the Jordan car, which we know was quite crappy.

People have done better with a Minardi.

The most important bit in the HRT concoction is the bonhomie between Collin Kolles & NK. They have worked together for a really long time. The moment Collin came aboard he would get his way - getting his guys. So it is possible to have Luizzi to come to his fold from FI. Mallya should be more than happy to get rid of him.

BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Formula One | Karthikeyan angry at Jordan boss

"He doesn't speak to me very much any more, so that is a good thing," said Karthikeyan.

LOL

Originally Posted by anachronix

You probably misunderstood my comment. I wanted to highlight the sad state of F1! Narain would be better at Nascar rather than driving the F1's official rent-a-car service!

Credit for what? All the credit he deserved was given to him when he became the first indian driver to be in F1. This time though it was all about successfully finding someone to sponsor him a seat in F1. There is a difference between earning it & buying it!

I am sure you are hearing all this noise from true F1 fans. Reason, a talented 23 year old fresh talent like Hulkenberg doesnt have a confirmed seat yet while a 33 year old truck racer who was not connected with F1 in any way nearly 5 years gets a chance. The difference one wanted to earn it while the other wanted to buy it.

I find no reason to be patriotic here, but that doesnt mean I am not patriotic!

True! He opened the gates in F1 for India. Kudos to him for that!

There are much better drivers in India than NK & KC who are yet to find the ability to find the source to buy a seat in F1. I am sure NK & KC has much better contacts in Indian Motorsport clubs than the young chaps who are fighting it out in F2 and other euro series!

Someone who actually gets it. Kudos.

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

Very true. Hope TATA's start looking out for the talent that you represent.

If I did represent any talent, I'd be hopeful of the F1 teams looking out for that particular talent, not a big old man with lots of money in his pocket. Then again, we both think differently, so no offense taken.

Yep, it is. At least someone has got off the keyboard and shown themselves to the world.

I sincerely hope you were referring to Ratan Tata and not Karthikeyan. The money is Tata's, the car is José Ramón Carabante's. Unless your idea of an achievement is to spend someone else's money to drive someone else's car.

That should be the spirit for any true blooded INDIAN. Thank you amitku.

I sincerely pity your line of thinking. By that logic, nobody should be criticising anything Indian or he will be called an infidel. True blooded Indian. LOL.

[polopm]

Originally Posted by pranavt

People have done better with a Minardi.

BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Formula One | Karthikeyan angry at Jordan boss

LOL

Someone who actually gets it. Kudos.

If I did represent any talent, I'd be hopeful of the F1 teams looking out for that particular talent, not a big old man with lots of money in his pocket. Then again, we both think differently, so no offense taken.

I sincerely hope you were referring to Ratan Tata and not Karthikeyan. The money is Tata's, the car is José Ramón Carabante's. Unless your idea of an achievement is to spend someone else's money to drive someone else's car.

I sincerely pity your line of thinking. By that logic, nobody should be criticizing anything Indian or he will be called an infidel. True blooded Indian. LOL.

Pranav
Minardi did have drivers of a higher calibre - Alonso, Webber, Trulli, Fisichella et al
Jordan nee Spyker - was going the wrong way anyway. NK & Colles had a spat when he was going - doesn't mean you split forever! Very few drivers can have a spat with the team boss and win. Look what happened to Fernando ' I throw things out of my pram' Alonso.
The point is not to have a fight on what NK is or what he is made of. All I am saying is that he is not bad to be condemned this way.

Cheers & keep revving

[Addy]

@ Polopm : Whatever happened to Alonso at Mclaren, the bottom line is Ferrari wanted him no matter what. Irrespective of he throwing stuff out. Even if that meant that they had to remove the deserving Kimi and retain the hopeless Massa.

[polopm]

Sorry mods, can't resist saying about Alonso even though the thread is about MK.
Ok here goes, Ron Dennis has handled two hot headed/talented drivers better. Alonso could not digest the fact that Lewis was damn quick and was given equal treatment. Alonso is probably the most complete driver today(forget the Schum-his split persona is driving nowadays). Ferrari could not handle Kimi well- he is that way, expecting him to gel well with the team and get on personally with each of the staff - that would never happen - they knew it from his McLaren days. Provided him a dog of a car in 2009 and he was still getting results.
Ferrari always wanted a 1-2 driver combo and do that bit really well. Look at this season (except for Fernando is faster than you episode !!)

Coming back to NK & HRT - the team will do relatively well this year(YoY) as they have technical stuff from Williams coming in, they have learnt the hard way. Few races they might be close to Virgin or beat them. Thats about it. Lotus will pull away for sure.

My money is on Lewis for the DC '11.

[VW2010]

Narain's got to drive like there is no future. He has to give it all he can and not worry about the next race. He has to take one race at a time and aim to (first) finish and (second) beat the virgin racing and stay ahead in the new team segment. It is not going to be easy for Narain.

For 2011 I still vote for Vettel. By far the finest driver with an enormous ego to Win at any cost. Go Vettel Go and Good luck to our own NK.

[siddutta]

wish I could send him a bouquet. its a honour that he and Chandok has been able to secure a place in the ultra competetive sports. I would always pray for a podium finish for him. Thanks to the Tata group too.

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by pranavt

I sincerely pity your line of thinking. By that logic, nobody should be criticising anything Indian or he will be called an infidel. True blooded Indian. LOL.

This is what we are really good at, ain't it ? Picking holes in someone else's pie and calling that criticism ? Well, I feel I should at least get to the level before i do that, sorry I am not. I am just a "True Blooded Indian" admiring another who has done India a bit of proud which so far I have not.

[pranavt]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

This is what we are really good at, ain't it ? Picking holes in someone else's pie and calling that criticism ? Well, I feel I should at least get to the level before i do that, sorry I am not. I am just a "True Blooded Indian" admiring another who has done India a bit of proud which so far I have not.

I do not see how a guy who rents a car with someone else's money can do a country proud. Unless you consider the Indian media and the new generation of F1 fans (who've been introduced through Karthikeyan's first entry and Mallya's team) as a whole country.

[VW2010]

....I do not see how a guy who rents a car with someone else's money can do a country proud.....

That is definitely harsh on someone who has done the country proud in being the first one to drive the F1. So what if he drives a rented car with someone else's money. I am absolutely sure that the "Someone" will not be ready to rent a car for NK if he feels NK is not worth to compete.

The comment works fine if Nk has no skills and he is just another lazy bumm roaming around doing nothing.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by pranavt

I do not see how a guy who rents a car with someone else's money can do a country proud. Unless you consider the Indian media and the new generation of F1 fans (who've been introduced through Karthikeyan's first entry and Mallya's team) as a whole country.

So do all F1 drivers pump in their own money? And that someone else who is putting up the money for NK is senile and does not know any better?

Please understand your posts have long since crossed the "criticism" level and entered the realm of rants!

[Mpower]

Whatever it is, its a brilliant PR coup by TATAs. Having an Indian driver in NewDelhi GP with the TATA name splashed all over is awesome. This is Ratan Tata giving a marketing lesson to Vijay Mallya, the showman. Indian crowd will be waving HRT flags not FI.

Even better now that he got a version2 car that has been debugged in its debut year.

He will be revered as a hero as long as he finishes ahead of this teammate.

KC and co should have spent the money this year instead of last.

[YaeJay]

Wishing all the very best to dear Narain Karthikeyan. Perhaps this year I will watch F1 again. We all (Err all -1 ) know your struggle to reach there, we all know you deserve it. We (-1) are with you!

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by pranavt

I do not see how a guy who rents a car with someone else's money can do a country proud.

You are the ultimate Indian, pranav. Great going.

[YaeJay]

Learn a new thing everyday I suppose! Perhaps I haven't followed F1 much, I never knew one had to buy their own cars to race with their own money. This is rather confusing. Could someone clear the fog? M1 perhaps?

[pranavt]

Originally Posted by Gansan

So do all F1 drivers pump in their own money? And that someone else who is putting up the money for NK is senile and does not know any better?

Please understand your posts have long since crossed the "criticism" level and entered the realm of rants!

Having our very own homegrown Yamamoto is nothing to be proud of. I'd rather be proud of an Indian company that can blow enough money on a 34 year old has-been just to make front pages of all newspapers.

Originally Posted by Mpower

Even better now that he got a version2 car that has been debugged in its debut year.

HRT ran the same configs at Monza and Monaco. I'd love to see what was changed on the cars between races, apart from the 3 million drivers that drove the car during the season.. They do not have a chassis supplier this year after the public fallout with Dallara. Karthikeyan will be driving last year's car in all probabilities.