Karthikeyan admits frustration with HRT situation
May 11 (GMM) Narain Karthikeyan has played down reports he could lose his seat at HRT because of a lack of sponsorship.
An Indian newspaper this week said the 35-year-old is a million euros short of guaranteeing his place at the struggling Spanish team through November's Brazil finale.
"Right now, everything is as it should be," he is quoted by France's autohebdo.fr.
"Early in the season, (team boss) Luis (Perez Sala) said that if I was not close enough to my teammate, there is a chance I will not finish the season.
"That was put into my contract, but for now I respect all the conditions. There is no reason that I will not be driving (the rest of) this season," added Karthikeyan.
He admits, however, to some frustration about HRT's continuing rear-of-the-field position.
"To be honest I wasn't expecting the start of 2012 to be on the same lines as last year," the Indian driver told the Hindustan Times newspaper.
"Yes I expected teething problems but not to this extent."
He also admits he expected the team to test at Mugello last week.
"Personally speaking, I would've preferred some seat time at Mugello since I didn't get any pre-season testing compared to my teammate who did the Jerez test with the old car," said Karthikeyan.
"I was originally told that we would do the Mugello test but we decided to focus on putting the car together instead."
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Jules Bianchi's father speaks of family's continued hopes
Sauber under no illusions about constructors' position
Pirelli chief calls for radical F1 overhaul
Karthikeyan, Maini withdraw from Le Mans 24 Hours
Karthikeyan leads all-Indian Asian Le Mans team, eyes LM24
Gallery: All Williams F1 cars since 1978
2024 NASCAR at Dover schedule, entry list, and how to watch
The plot twist that gave Arrow McLaren’s Ward his first win as team principal
WRC looking to add F1-style team radio to TV broadcasts
Formula E’s new Gen3 Evo car breaks cover
The F1 hero-to-zero dividing line that has never been so thin
How Stroll and Magnussen revealed the scale of F1’s racing and rules problems
Did F1's new sprint format work?
Chinese Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2024
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments