Dream debut

Karun Chandhok opens his  F1 account in a Red Bull Racing car at Barcelona

CHENNAI: India’s Karun Chandhok made his Formula One debut in a Red Bull Racing car at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain on Tuesday.

As the three-day official test session commenced, Karun, 23, from Chennai, did 39 laps around the 4.627 km circuit and was placed 18th on the time charts that Michael Schumacher topped — driving the Ferrari F2007 — followed by team-mate and lead test driver Luca Badoer. Karun partnered David Coulthard, the 36-year old Scot with 229 race starts and 13 Grand Prix victories. Coulthard was eighth quickest in the course of his 55 laps.

Karun’s job was primarily to test the new ECU (Electronic Control Unit) systems that will come into force for the 2008 season. His best lap was one minute, 24.896 seconds. Coulthard, who clocked 1:23.332, drove the RB3 with 2007 electronics but without the driver aids like traction control and engine braking that are outlawed for next year. His evaluations will help develop the 2008 machinery.

Incidentally, Karun finished ahead of the two Force India (formerly Spyker) cars driven by Giedo van der Garde and Roldan Rodriguez, who occupied the last two positions on the time chart. Skipping the Barcelona test session are the top three drivers, world champion Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. Schumacher, returning to Formula One a year after retirement, put in a blistering 1:21.922 lap. Baoder did 1:22.129.

Felipe Massa, who finished fourth in the 2007 championship, will join Schumacher on Wednesday. Schumacher’s return to the F1 cockpit though is not perceived as a first step to his full time return to GP racing. Meanwhile, the Vijay Mallya-owned Force India are still to finalise their driver line-up for the 2008 season though as many as five contenders are in the fray. Besides van der Garde and Rodriguez, the names of Vitantonio Luizzi, Adrian Sutil and Christian Klein are being touted for the two race seats.

To top it, Ralf Schumacher, who is without a race seat at the moment, is also linked to Force India though his manager refused to comment on it. Last season, Ralf drove for Panasonic Toyota in which Mallya had business interests. Another prominent name linked to Force India was that of Giancarlo Fisichella of Renault. Force India are likely to introduce the 2008 car only at the British GP next July and until then, will stick to the F8-VII chassis that Spyker ran in 2007.