He did become a racing driver and started making news right from the beginning.
He went up the ranks of racing and now finds himself behind the wheel of an F1 car. Sadly, his F1 debut turned out to be a complete fiasco, though of no fault of his own. On the free practice session on Friday, his car had not even been assembled and on the qualifying day hydraulic problems in his car limited him to a few laps only. Then finally on race day, the same problems reared their ugly head and he had to quit the race a little more than two minutes after starting. Dispite the disappointment, Karun Chandhok has come a long way from a kart driver in India.
Born on the 19th of January in 1984 in Gandhi Nagar in Chennai, Chandhok was introduced to motor racing right from the start. Even as a kid, he was a race fanatic. Unlike most kids his age Chandhok was busy reading magazines like Autosport or glued to the television on race weekends.
School life at the Sishya Higher Secondary School, Chennai, was quite interesting for Chandhok. “There was one problem though,” he states sheepishly, “When I was in school, I wasn’t always a shining example of fitness that you see today. In fact, my dad gave me an ultimatum: lose weight or forget about racing.” Obviously, he chose the latter. But being a racing driver is no easy job. Chandhok’s workout routine involves plenty of cardio combined with circuit training and neck exercises. “I keep mixing up my cardio to keep it entertaining. So sometimes you’ll find me doing everything from swimming to boxing.”
In 2000, by the age of 16, Chandhok, who had lost enough weight to race competitively, entered his first race in the JK Tyre National Racing Championship. And call it skill or beginners luck, Chandhok drove a spectacular season to win the championship. Not only did he win but he also set the fastest lap records for all 10 races and made it a point to start from the top of the grid each time too. This achievement jump started his career. And soon he became more than just a familiar face around the circuits. In 2001, Chandhok signed with Team India Racing to take part in the Formula Asia Championship. He was the first Asian to win the five opening races and a record eight races in a year. He finished the season clinching the championship and in doing so became the youngest Formula Asia champion. Towards the end of 2001, he started testing with the British Formula 3 champion team Carlin Motorsport. That year also saw him being presented with the award for the ‘Most promising Asian driver of the year’ and then in 2002, with the Overdrive’s ‘Motorsport Man of the Year’.
With his new contract with Carlin Motorsport, Chandhok would see a modest performance over the next year, finishing 6th overall but with six top-three finishes in the year. The next two years would see Chandhok with the British T-Sport team in F3. In 2003 he finished a respectable third overall with 19 podium finishes in 24 races. He also went on to become the first and only certified Indian instructor at the prestigious Silverstone Racing School in England. Because of his consistency in F3, in 2004, Chandhok qualified for the ‘World Series by Nissan’ where he partnered with compatriot Narain Karthikeyan for the last two rounds. He took the fourth place during the last round, ahead of team mate Karthikeyan. He was also the ‘Team captain’ for the 24 hour Dubai Karting Race and was the first person to receive the Overdrive ‘Motorsport Man of the Year’ for a second time.
In 2005, Chandhok raced part time for the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, competing against current F1 driver Robert Kubica. He was then signed by CSS-Stellar Management and went on to become the first driver to represent India in the A1 Grand Prix. However, he left A1 GP for the Formula Asia V6 by Renault Championship where he became the first ever champion, winning an astounding seven races out of twelve with nine pole positions.
But it wasn’t until 2007 that Chandhok’s career started making some serious headway towards F1, the Mecca of motorsports. The GP2 series is a feeder to F1 and has been known to produce Formula 1 racers like current Mercedes driver, Nico Rosberg, 2008 Formula 1 Champion Lewis Hamilton and Virgin Racing’s Timo Glock, all of whom were GP 2 Series Champions starting from 2005 respectively. In 2007, he signed with GP2 Series Team Durango and finished the season regularly, running within the top eight.”My most memorable race win was at Spa in 2007,” he recalls, “It was a huge moment for me. Getting the sponsorship to race in Europe that year had been a huge struggle and I was the last driver to make a deal that year to be on the GP2 grid. So, to win a race with an underdog team was a huge boost to my career.” It also turned out to be the first time ever that the Indian national anthem was played at a Grand Prix event. His performance was rewarded when F1 team Red Bull Racing asked him to test for them over two days at the Catalunya circuit in Barcelona.
Chandhok remained with GP2 in 2008 and signed with racing team iSport International. He paired up with late racing legend Ayrton Senna’s nephew, Bruno Senna. “It’s ironic,” says Chandhok, “I grew up a Prost fan and here I am, partnering with Senna’s nephew. “ The two drivers, however, share a great bond and during their 2008 season Chandhok won the German Grand Prix and had podium finishes at Silverstone and Monaco. He finished with overall tenth and was presented with the ‘Best Driving Style’ award by the GP 2 Series. In November that year he was also invited to be a member of the British Racing Driver’s Club. Last year, Chandhok moved to Ocean Racing Technology team and finished the season with a best position of third place at Silverstone.
The gods shined down on Chandhok when Hispanic Racing, formally known as the Campos Meta, were given official entry by the FIA into the F1 2010 season. And history was finally made on 4 March, 2010 when the Hispanic Racing Team confirmed Karun Chandhok as the second driver for the team, after Bruno Senna.
Skill and talent apart, a lifetime of hard work, sacrifices and commitment have put Karun Chandhok where he always wanted to be. At just 26 years of age, Karun can look forward to a long career.
