Two good GP2 years before Chandhok for Force India: Mallya

Force India owner Vijay Mallya on Tuesday said he would consider promising motor race driver Karun Chandhok for his Formula One team if he can finish inside top three in the GP2 Series for a couple of years.

"Chandhok has tested for Formula One and he is now running in the GP2 Series. If he finishes in the top three in the GP2 Championships I can seriously consider him for Force India," Mallya told Indian reporters at the Jerez de La Frontane circuit where Force India is testing its new Mercedes-driven VJM02 car.

"If we have a driver who has five to eight years of experience in international karting, GP2 Series. One year in GP2 is not enough. He should be at least have two or three
years in the GP2 and should secure first, second or third place in the Championships. Only then the driver can graduate to Formula One," he added.

Asked about any possibility of former Jordan race driver Narain Karthikeyan making it to Force India, Mallya said, "He (Karthikeyan) may have been the most successful Indian F1 race driver. But if we put him in the car today and compete him with the other drivers I don't know how he would measure upto. 

"Anyway, he has said he has no interest in Force India and I have no interest in hiring him," Mallya told foreign journalists here. 

With a new VJM02 car fitted with Mercedes-McLaren engine, Mallya said he would now "demand" results from his drivers even though he does not expect miracles immediately. 

"We made improvements last season but that was not enough. Now in 2009, the car has completely changed and it is a brand new car with a new design. There are no excuses any more. I have made investments, given them what they want in terms of resources.

"Apart from the technical changes, the management have been completely overhauled so I am going to demand points from my drivers. It is not that they (the drivers) should start to get the points immediately but I expect them to be consistently finishing races and earning points after the first four or five Grand Prix which I would call settling down
races".

"Moreover, I want points on merit and not earning them on default. For example, last year there were races in which only half of the cars remained towards the close of the race because of mechanical problems or weather conditions I don't want that," he said.

Mallya criticised the media for focussing only on points in the first season, saying owning a team in Formula One Championship was an achievement in itself.

"I qualified for Formula One World Championships. If I was not good enough I would have been in the GP2 Series but I produced a car which qualified for F1 Championships. Only focussing on points was completely wrong. Ferrari took five
years for its driver Michael Schumacher to become world champion," Mallya said.

Asked about India having a Formula One street race track at Noida in 2011, Mallya said he had the idea of a street race in Delhi but could not realise it.

"I know JP Group is constructing a race track at Noida. I was the author of the idea of having a street race in Delhi. It would have been a huge thing having a street race on the
Rajpath with Rashtrapati Bhavan, North and South Blocks and other landmarks in the backdrop. I brought Herman Tilke and met Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dixit for that. She was very excited about the idea.

"But suddenly India Olympic Association (IOA) chief Suresh Kalmadi came and he said they would built a race track at Noida that is fine. Force India team and a Grand Prix in
the country it would be fantastic," he said.