Narain Karthikeyan Biography :

Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan (born January 14, 1977, Chennai, India) is a Formula One driver. He made his debut in 2005 with the Jordan team. He is currently a Williams F1 test driver. He is often given the title of "The Fastest Indian in the World".

Much is made of the fact that Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan is the Indian subcontinent’s very first envoy in Formula One, but if his provenance is studied, it is perhaps surprising India has not yielded a racing star before now.

Born in the Southern Indian city of Chennai, the young Karthikeyan had a home-made role model in the guise of his father, GR Karthikeyan, who had competed in arduous marathon rally events in the 1970’s in the heyday of adventure marathon rallying. His natural talent and success earned ‘GR’ a number of national titles and naturally enough, the most dedicated support and admiration of his young son.

But perhaps close proximity to the demands and dangers of rallying encouraged GR to try to deflect his son’s natural inclination to follow his father’s footsteps. The first diversion GR attempted was the rifle club, and it is notable that Narain still lists trap and skeet shooting as a personal interest, but clearly not one with an attraction as pervasive or as strong as motor racing. The affection for motor racing endured even when his father suggested the idea of his son trying his hand at the local flying club.

A motorbike, shortly followed by a kart, built by his father, was a concession to Narain’s persistent interest and before long, his father had conceded defeat and helped the young 16 year old enrol at the Winfield Ecole Pilotage at Magny-Cours in 1992, the school that set Alain Prost and Damon Hill, both WilliamsF1 World Champions, on their path to Formula One success.

The school both validated and precipitated his precocious talent and the young Narain made it to the semi-finals in the Pilote Elf competition. The following year, he started racing at home in Formula Maruti, before the necessary move for an aspiring career racer, to Europe to contest the Formula Vauxhall Juniors.

By 1996, Narain was Formula Asia Champion and before the decade was out, he had progressed into senior single seater racing in Formula 3, moving beyond the confines of the UK to gain important international experience at blue riband events such as the Macao Grand Prix.

Narain Karthikeyan
F1 Record
Nationality	India
Car #	19
Current team	Williams F1 Team
Grands Prix	16
World Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First Grand Prix	2005 Australian Grand Prix
First win	-
2005 Championship position	18th (5 pts)

The millennium was something of a turning point, with Narain extending his experience in Formula 3 before following the career path of the likes of Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill into Formula Nippon in Japan. 2001 also delivered the first Formula One tests with Jaguar and Jordan and moved the Indian’s name onto the radars of Formula One talent scouts.

Since 2002, it has really only been a matter of time until Narain arrived in the Formula One paddock as he contested the highly-competitive World Series for three seasons, notching podiums and wins along the way. Jordan Grand Prix made it to the cut first, retaining Narain for his debut Formula One season in 2005.

In his first Formula One season, Narain demonstrated clear speed, constrained only by his modest equipment and managed to produce a strong finishing record, frequently achieving finishes just on the fringes of the top ten.

Although without a race seat in 2006, Narain is playing a critical role in the fortunes of a senior team, another step on the way from his first petrol-driven experience behind the wheel of a Hindustan Ambassador in his home town of Coimbatore. A long way perhaps, but eminently predictable because, as his father GR reflected when Narain was just a lad, “He’s stubborn,” and there seemed no way in hindsight that India’s first racing star was ever likely to let his fascination drop by the wayside.