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#265678
This has been rumbling for a few days now, if not longer.

On Monday, I came across the following statement from Force India team principal Vijay Mallya.

Force India owner Vijay Mallya is refusing to bow to pressure to put an Indian driver in his team. "I have been involved in Indian motorsport for over 30 years, and I have done whatever I reasonably could to promote sport in India," he said. "Now to be criticised, largely by the Indian folks, that I don't have an Indian driver is just blatantly unfair. My only response to them would be that I know more about Formula 1 than they do."


Source: BBC & Press Association

Indian driver Karun Chandhok has today come out with the following;

Karun Chandhok has criticised Force India boss Vijay Mallya for his comments about Indian Formula 1 drivers. "As far as the existing Indian drivers in Formula 1 are concerned, I can only feel very sorry for them," Mallya said. "They are getting drives by the teams who clearly can't compete.

"If that's what they want to do, drive a Formula 1 car for the sake of driving a Formula 1 car and winding up at the back, I can't do anything about it."

Speaking to the Reuters news agency on Wednesday, Chandhok hit out at Mallya for his comments.

He also suggested Force India's programme was simply not enough to get new Indian drivers into F1.

"I think it's a bit sad that in one breath the chairman of our Indian ASN is talking about how much he has done for Indian drivers and then in the next breath he is criticising India's only two Formula 1 drivers," Chandhok said.

"If you are going to criticise people, at least do it with some facts. Having never tested either Narain or myself in one of his cars, he doesn't have the facts.

"I understand the need to find the next Indian star, and I use the word next, not first, and the need to create more Indian F1 drivers.

"But you are not going to find the next Indian star by running events in single-engined four-stroke rental karts on 400 metre tracks made out of concrete."


Source: Autosport

Bit of a change of topic. Breath of fresh air from elite team and driver talks. What do we all think?
#265679
I say good on Vijay for standing his ground. A team seat's a driver who can get them result's not because of nationality (which seem's to be an ongoing trend with some fans). Heck I'm American and my favorite drivers have been French,Brazilian,English and German so what does that say about the Indians who basically know nothing about F1 much less follow it every season?? :banghead:
#265684
I agree with Chandhok; Mallya's criticism is unfair, but then we all know that he wants the glory for himself.

Furthermore, I do remember Mallya making claims when he first bought the team that he wanted an Indian driver, so it's not like the pressure from the Indian people to deliver is unfair.
#265686
While I think it was rather harsh of Mallya to almost ridicule Karthikeyen and Chandhok for driving for back-end teams, it is of course in the interests of any team to choose who they feel are the best drivers at the given time, or the most constructive pairing to deliver maximum points hauls. Regardless of nationality.

If India feel that strongly about it, they should try out A1GP... oh wait....it's folded. :rolleyes:
#265688
Well to be fair, I rate Chandhok more highly than Sutil... :P


He makes a great commentator / TV personality too. The BBC love using him for various things like that.

But yes, he definitely carries much more hope for India than Karthikeyen. Don't know where he goes from now though...
#265690
Just wait for Jarno to retire.

This Jarno lol!! :D
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#265691
100% behind Vijay for this one. If I owned a multi million dollar business, I won't be bending down to some people's whims and fancies and lose points (millions of dollars) in the process. Having a crap driver contributing to 50% of your business efforts is no joke.

Narain is out of the question, and Karun didn't prove anything while driving alongside Bruno Senna. Bruno is no star, and Karun hardly 'thrashed' him either. Great commentator though, I'd love to have him as the commentator or co commentator on Star Sports...either of the mutts leaving way for Karun would be great.
By andrew
#265693
The simple fact is if someone is good enough to be in F1 then they should be in F1 regardless of where they come from.

Vijay Mallya is correct in what he says. Sticking someone in a car just because of their nationality does not make sense at all.
#265694
I say good on Vijay for standing his ground. A team seat's a driver who can get them result's not because of nationality (which seem's to be an ongoing trend with some fans). Heck I'm American and my favorite drivers have been French,Brazilian,English and German so what does that say about the Indians who basically know nothing about F1 much less follow it every season??:banghead:


I'm sorry but your not doing the 'Americans are ignorant' stereotype any good :wink: . But im sure you didnt mean to make it sound like that.

I think Vijay is doing the right thing by standing his ground but he cant claim he is doing much for motorsport in India. What, having your F1 car in the background as you unveil your multimillion dollar cricket team? Doesnt really count...
He does have a young drivers programme sort of thing but its just karting, and there you never hear about it in India anyway so he is obviously not trying hard enough.

But ultimately Force India is in F1 as an investment, not because it has anything to do with the products VM sells so you cant expect him to be risking championship points (millions of dollars) in bringing an Indian driver to the forefront of motorsport. Paul DiResta got in because he has showed plenty of promise in DTM and because of Mercedes. But i dont think people should expect FI to be announcing Shiv Patel as next year's driver just yet.
#265696
I'm sorry but your not doing the 'Americans are ignorant' stereotype any good :wink: . But im sure you didnt mean to make it sound like that.

Maybe it is best if you try not too speak for other's :wink: .

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