Narain Karthikeyan facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Narain Karthikeyan
நாராயண் கார்த்திகேயன்
Karthikeyan at the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix
Born	Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan (1977-01-14) 14 January 1977 (age 48) Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Indian
Active years	2005, 2011–2012
Teams	Jordan, HRT
Entries	48 (46 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	5
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	2005 Australian Grand Prix
Last entry	2012 Brazilian Grand Prix

Narain Karthikeyan, born on January 14, 1977, is a famous Indian racing driver. He was the first Indian to compete in Formula One, the highest class of auto racing. He raced in Formula One in 2005, and then again from 2011 to 2012. He has also competed in many other exciting racing series around the world.

Narain's Early Life and Family

Narain Karthikeyan was born in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. His parents are Sheela and Kakarla Karthikeyan Naidu. He has an older sister, Deepika, and a younger brother, Rajeev.

Narain went to school at Stanes Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School in Coimbatore. His love for racing started very early. This is because his father, Karthikeyan, was a champion rally driver in India. His dad won the South India Rally seven times!

Narain later went to the Elf Winfield Racing School in France. In 1992, he became a semi-finalist in a big competition for Formula Renault cars.

Narain's Racing Journey Begins

Narain started his racing career with a bang! He finished on the podium in his very first race. This was at Sriperumbudur in the Formula Maruti National racing championship. After that, he went to France for more training at the Elf Winfield Racing School.

He came back to India to race in Formula Maruti in 1993 when he was just 15. In the same year, he also raced in the Formula Vauxhall Junior championship in Great Britain.

Narain has won many races in different series. These include A1GP, British F3, World Series by Nissan, and Formula Asia. He won the British Formula Ford Winter Series in 1994. Then, in 1996, he won the Formula Asia Championship. He was the first Indian and first Asian to do so!

In 1994, he raced in the Formula Ford Zetec series in the UK. He even got a podium finish at a race supporting the Portuguese Grand Prix. He also became the first Indian driver to win any championship in Europe.

In 1997, he moved back to Britain. He competed in the British Formula Opel Championship. He got a pole position and a win at Donington Park.

British Formula 3 and Formula Nippon

In 1998, Narain joined the British Formula 3 Championship. He finished third twice in his first year. In 1999, he had an even better season. He finished on the podium five times, including two wins at Brands Hatch. He also got two pole positions and set three fastest laps. He finished sixth in the championship that year.

Narain also raced in the Macau Grand Prix. He was the first driver to win a race for the Carlin team in British F3. In 2000, he finished fourth overall in the British F3 standings. He also won the International F3 race at Spa-Francorchamps and the Korea Super Prix.

In 2001, Narain started racing in the Formula Nippon F3000 Championship. He finished the year in the top ten. This was also a huge year for him because he became the first Indian to drive a Formula One car! He tested for the Jaguar Racing team at Silverstone. Later, he tested for the Jordan-Honda team. He was very fast, almost as quick as their main driver, Jean Alesi.

World Series by Nissan and Formula One Tests

In 2002, Narain moved to the World Series by Nissan. He got a pole position and set a very fast lap time at the Interlagos Circuit in Brazil. He continued in the series in 2003, getting four podium finishes. These results led to another Formula One test, this time with the Minardi team. He was offered a chance to race in 2004, but he couldn't find enough sponsors to make it happen.

He kept racing in the Nissan World Series in 2004. He won races in Valencia, Spain, and Magny-Cours, France. He finished sixth in the standings.

Narain's Formula One Career

Racing for Jordan (2005)

On February 1, 2005, Narain Karthikeyan made history! He announced he would be a main driver for the Jordan Formula One team. This made him India's first-ever Formula One racing driver. His teammate was Portuguese driver Tiago Monteiro. Narain completed the necessary tests to get his superlicence, which is required to race in F1.

Karthikeyan locking his brakes during qualifying at the 2005 United States Grand Prix

In his first race, the 2005 Australian Grand Prix, Narain qualified in 12th place. He finished 15th. His only points in Formula One came at the 2005 United States Grand Prix. In that race, most teams pulled out due to a tyre safety issue. Narain finished fourth, which was a fantastic result! He finished ahead of two other drivers and behind his teammate.

In the 2005 Japanese Grand Prix, he was very fast in practice and qualified 11th. Sadly, his 2005 season ended with a crash at the 2005 Chinese Grand Prix. Luckily, he was not hurt.

After 2005, the Jordan team was bought and renamed Midland. Narain did not continue with them.

Test Driver for Williams (2006–2007)

On December 8, 2005, Narain tested for the Williams F1 team in Spain. He finished fifth, even faster than Williams' confirmed second driver, Nico Rosberg. On January 27, 2006, Williams confirmed Narain as their fourth driver. He helped test the car for the team. He continued as a reserve test driver for Williams in 2007. Narain said he was amazed by how different a top F1 team was compared to smaller ones.

Racing for HRT (2011–2012)

Narain returned to Formula One in 2011 after five years away! On January 6, 2011, he announced he would drive for the Hispania (HRT) team. He was very excited to race in front of his home crowd at the first-ever Indian Grand Prix. His main sponsor, Tata Group, helped make this dream come true.

Karthikeyan driving for Hispania at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Racing for a smaller team like HRT was tough. Modern F1 cars were also very reliable, meaning fewer cars retired from races. This meant Narain sometimes finished in the last position. For example, at the 2011 European Grand Prix, no cars retired, and he finished 24th.

On June 30, 2011, Narain was replaced by Daniel Ricciardo for most of the remaining races. However, he did get to race at the 2011 Indian Grand Prix. He finished 17th, beating his teammate Ricciardo.

Karthikeyan driving for HRT at the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix.

In 2012, Narain signed with the HRT team again. His teammate was Pedro de la Rosa. In the 2012 Australian Grand Prix, he and his teammate couldn't qualify for the race. In Malaysia, both HRT cars qualified. The race started in the rain, and Narain made a good choice to use full wet tyres. This helped him get as high as 5th place at one point! Later, McLaren's Jenson Button crashed into him.

After the Malaysian race, Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel criticized Narain's driving. Narain responded by calling Vettel a "cry-baby." However, Narain later decided to make peace, saying he respected Vettel's skills.

Narain faced many challenges in 2012, including car issues and penalties. He retired from several races due to problems like wheel nut failure or brake failure. He finished the 2012 season in 24th place with zero points.

After his Formula One career, Narain raced in the Japanese Super Formula series from 2014 to 2018. In 2019, he ended his single-seater racing career by joining the Super GT series in Japan.

Other Racing Adventures

A1 Grand Prix

In 2007, Narain also raced for A1 Team India. He made his A1GP debut in New Zealand. He won the A1GP of Zhuhai (China) for Team India on December 16, 2007. This was India's first-ever A1GP win!

Karthikeyan competing for A1 Team India at the 2008–09 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, South Africa.

Narain was also the first to get a pole position for India in A1GP. He won two feature races in the 2007–2008 season. This helped India finish in the top ten, ahead of countries like Australia and Brazil.

24 Hours of Le Mans

In March 2009, Narain tested for the Kolles Le Mans Team. He was set to race in the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race. On May 11, 2009, he finished sixth in his first Le Mans series race in Belgium.

However, just before the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 14, 2009, Narain dislocated his shoulder in a fall. Even though the Audi doctor said he could drive, the race organizers declared him unable to compete.

NASCAR

Narain made his NASCAR debut on March 27, 2010. He drove in the Kroger 250 Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway. He finished 13th, which was a very good effort for his first time racing a truck on an American oval track. Narain went on to win the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Most Popular Driver Award for 2010. Fans voted for him, making him the first foreign-born driver to win this award!

Superleague Formula

Narain drove for the PSV Eindhoven team in SLF in 2010. He won the second race at Brands Hatch in Great Britain.

Auto GP

In 2013, Narain raced in the Auto GP series. After switching teams, he had an amazing second half of the season. He won 5 races and got 4 pole positions! He finished fourth in the championship and scored the most points in the second half of the season.

Super Formula and Super GT

Karthikeyan during the 2014 Super Formula season.

In 2014, Narain returned to the Japanese Top Formula series, Super Formula. He raced with Team IMPUL. In 2015, he moved to Docomo Team Dandelion. He continued racing in Super Formula until 2018.

In 2019, Narain raced in the Super GT series in Japan. He won the Fuji Super GT x DTM Dream Race at Fuji and also achieved one podium finish with the Modulo Epson NSX-GT Team.

Awards and Recognition

The Government of India honored Narain Karthikeyan with the Padma Shri award in 2010. This is the fourth-highest civilian award in India, recognizing his achievements in motorsport.

Racing Record

Career Summary

^† As Karthikeyan was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

See also

In Spanish: Narain Karthikeyan para niños

• Formula One drivers from India
• TorqueX