Narain Karthikeyan Thread ...

vkd_1717 · Post by **vkd_1717** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 11:01 pm

Nick Hiedfield got 3 ponits in a more competitive Jordan and got a Williams seat ... so i expect Narian to pick up 1 or maybe 2 ponits and finish 14-16 of the 18 races

ps. Nice to see you post under the F1 section

kaz · Post by **kaz** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 11:10 pm

Yes, Alex Yoong was indeed a sight to behold!!

I don't think Narain could possibly perform that bad. However, he has taken on a risky role - a complete rookie to F1, partnered with another complete rookie, in a team in transition who no longer have an experience team boss, team owner or technical director and who have lost many other experienced staff. Add to that the signs are that there'll be no significant development put into the car during the season (all the other teams, even Minardi will) and it's a potentially F1 career ending season.

Don't get me wrong, Jordan are a fantastic team, many of the current F1 drivers were either discovered by Eddie Jordan or at some stage had a stint in the team. Michael Schumacher competed in his first grand prix in a Jordan!! However they fell on hard times financially and have now been taken over by a Russian business corporation whose interests lie in marketing their company and don't give a hoot about racing.

If Narain can beat his team-mate he has a chance of keeping his seat for 2006. From what I know of both drivers, Narain may be in some ways a better racer, but Monteiro is the more consistent of the two, and consistency counts for a lot in F1.

Anyway, they're testing in Barcelona this week, and there will be lap times released as it's not a private test. Could be interesting...

vkd_1717 · Post by **vkd_1717** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 11:15 pm

im not saying its possible for him to be as bad as Alex but he could come close becoz of the lack of experience ..... the Barca testing will not eveal a lot since drivers will have different fuel laods, and they will try to test new things like change tyre pressure and do 10 laps on those and comapre results

jaydeep · Post by **jaydeep** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 6:18 am

Yeah interesting to see their testing lap times ... We all egarly waiting for that ... I m hoping more consistency than speed from Narain ... As Kaz mentioned correctly with speed F1 driver needs consistency then his performance count.

Jaydeep.

Gulamali · Post by **Gulamali** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 6:08 pm

Here is the first day timings....

Pos. Driver Team Tires Time Laps
1 F. Alonso Renault 01:14:991 110
2 JP. Montoya McLaren 01:15:227 82
3 R. Zonta Toyota 01:15:374 83
4 K. Räikkönen McLaren 01:15:404 71
5 G. Fisichella Renault 01:15:648 63
6 D. Coulthard Red Bull 01:15:713 92
7 V. Liuzzi Red Bull 01:16:143 70
8 M. Webber Williams 01:16:509 92
9 J. Trulli Toyota 01:16:551 97
10 M. Schumacher Ferrari 01:16:639 101
11 A. Pizzonia Williams 01:16:726 54
12 N. Karthikeyan Jordan 01:20:029 81
13 T. Monteiro Jordan 01:22:076 86

Hope the Jordan team improves over the next few days.

kaz · Post by **kaz** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 6:51 pm

As vdk said not alot can be read into testing times as different drivers/teams will be testing with different parts, fuel loads tyres etc. For example, just last week Jaques Villeneuve was 2 seconds off his team mate and everyone was saying he was in big trouble, but it turned out he was actually testing breaking!!

I am a bit shocked to see the Jordans soooo far behind though - 5 and 7 seconds is alot over a single lap! There's a very powerful engine in the back of that car, possibly one of the best on the grid. Last year, when they were using the equivalent to a lawnmower engine almost, they tended to be on average 2 - 3 seconds off the pace.

But, fingers crossed, the rest of the week may see an improvement. Hopefully the 2 rookies will begin to get a better feel for the car.

Oh, and I do agree that Narain could well become the next Alex Yoong because of his inexperience. If his management were smart, they would have arranged a test drive for him with a chance of a racing seat in 2006. He coming in on a season when the one tyre rule will be in effect. That will make the handling of an already difficult car even more treacherous, especially towards the end of races. If he spins off too many times or thrashes the car, then he'll find himself without a race seat in 2006.

amr090 · Post by **amr090** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 8:08 pm

oh well at least he was faster than monteiro. its a start haha.

vkd_1717 · Post by **vkd_1717** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 8:16 pm

looks like the minardis will have competition for last place in 05 ... however Joradan might be experimenting ... after all it is testing

Narian did an amazing job to be 2 seconds ahead of his teammate WELL DONE NARIAN

Kumar · Post by **Kumar** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 3:24 am

I am new to F1 racing.. Mainly following indians..

But after reading this thread, it seems like Narain should feel "unlucky" that he got his F1 license this year??

vkd_1717 · Post by **vkd_1717** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 7:12 pm

No ... he wont be judged compared to top drivers, he will be judged by being compared to his team mate .... Hiedfield got into Williams by being consistant in his year at Jordan

Post by **Dhruv** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 7:37 pm

Jordan Press Release wrote:16 February 2005
BARCELONA TEST REPORT: DAY 2 OF 4
Narain Karthikeyan and Tiago Monteiro continued Jordan Grand Prix’s test programme today in Barcelona, making steady progress and completing test mileage of 76 and 32 laps respectively.

Trevor Carlin said "It was a good day and among other things we spent time updating Tiago's car to EJ15 specification, so he got some runs in the afternoon with the latest specification. Narain improved his time, he did a 1:19.2 and was working through some more of Bridgestone's tyre test programme. Tiago's best time was 1:19.7 so we are making progress all the time and it's going quite positively at the moment."

Driver Team Time
G. Fisichella Renault (M) 1:14.408
R. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:14.502
F. Alonso Renault (M) 1:14.552
J. Montoya McLaren (M) 1:15.199
D. Coulthard Red Bull (M) 1:15.372
C. Klien Red Bull (M) 1:15.673
M. Webber Williams (M) 1:15.841
R. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:15.912
J. Trulli Toyota (M) 1:16.043
N. Heidfeld Williams (M) 1:16.077
P. De la Rosa McLaren (M) 1:16.133
M. Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:16.188
N. Karthikeyan Jordan (B) 1:19.179
T. Monteiro Jordan (B) 1:19.718
(B) Bridgestone
(M) Michelin

Sandeep · Post by **Sandeep** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 7:39 pm

We can observe some progress, but unless we know what they are testing it is difficult to draw conclusions form the time.

jaydeep · Post by **jaydeep** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 5:17 am

Yeah its difficult to make conclusion from tet time .. But as this is last testing session before Australian GP, then that means more or less all cars must be trying their near perfect set up in this testing.

Jaydeep.

Sandeep · Post by **Sandeep** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 5:52 am

Jaydeep what do you think of schumi? If they would have tested with perfect car, is that what we can expect from him this season?

jaydeep · Post by **jaydeep** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 6:14 am

I was expecting this question ...

I would say I keep gate open to ask ths question ...

Generally big guns never open their strategy before Championship races ... Becoz their extensive testing is continuously going on and on ... But smaller cars struggle becoz of lack of funding and so they have to match this testing opportunity with completing testing with all trials (with new set ups) and also make sure they go near to achieve near perfect car (with their own standards and abilities) for champioship ... So I never made any comments about biggies like Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, BAR and Renault (Toyota in their league but still lots to achieve) ... And only commented about drivers performance.

Jaydeep.