Rivalries have always given a boost to F1 fans: Narain Karthikeyan

In any team sport, there is bound to be some friction between mates looking to excel as individuals. It's no different in Formula One. India's Narain Karthikeyan, for one, believes that the ongoing tension between Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton is great for the sport.

For those who aren't aware as yet, it all happened during the second lap of last month's Belgian GP. Rosberg car's front wing sliced into Hamilton's left rear tyre, leaving his car punctured and forcing him to pull out. Rosberg finished the race second and extended his championship lead over Hamilton to 29 points. Much water has flown under the bridge since then, with Rosberg being punished by the team bosses and made to apologise to Hamilton.

But Karthikeyan, India's first F1 driver, reckons having such rivalries is better than the monotony that has engulfed F1 over the past few years, with Sebastian Vettel dominating the circuit since 2010.

"Such rivalries have always given a boost to F1 fans," Karthikeyan told dna on Thursday. "It happened with the (Alain) Prost-(Ayrton) Senna rivalry earlier. So maybe in this era, with what Rosberg and Hamilton are doing, it will give a big boost to F1's image and more people will start following it. F1 has been boring over the last few years, with Vettel winning everything. Now there is healthy competition, and that's great for the sport."

Karthikeyan, who now tests his speed in the Japanese championship Super Formula, feels there are very few cases of team-mates enjoying healthy friendship in F1. "You always have to compete with your team-mate. I think there are very few cases where team-mates have gelled together, if you know what I mean," he laughed.

"It's more relevant in F1. In other categories, you race for yourself, but in F1 you do it as a team. But in a team if both the drivers are very competitive, like is the case with Hamilton and Rosberg, it (rivalry) does tend to happen. But it's great for the sport," he added.

Karthikeyan, who was long the lone Indian face in F1 but has now moved to Japan for greener pastures, fears that with the Indian Grand Prix being ruled out in 2015 as well, Indian fans might lose connect with the sport.

"There's nothing like having it live in your country," he said. "But things are how they are, and we can't change it. It is much more than just you and me talking over the phone and saying 'let's have a Grand Prix'. It's a lot more than that. It's not going to be easy for it to come back in India."

However, with Super Formula continuing to gain popularity in Japan, Karthikeyan said the organisers are more than willing to get the race to India. "The Super Formula organisers are speaking with the Buddh (International Circuit) management for holding the race in the near future. That's been going on for a while, so hopefully they'll come to some sort of a conclusion. F1 is not happening in India, and thus we're trying to get this race to India," he said.

When asked if he still misses F1 races, Karthikeyan says: "Yes, F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport. The problem in F1 for me is that you go to a mediocre team and then you're not able to get the results. Here (in Japan), there's more enjoyment. Even last year when I went to Auto GP and won races... you have a chance to win races here. Obviously that's not going to happen in F1. I'm 37 years old now, you know," he said.

Thirty seven he is, but is still managing to hold on to his own on those challenging Japanese tracks in his maiden Super Formula appearance, driving for Team Impul Hoshino Racing. The Japanese championship, earlier known as Formula Nippon, is as close as it gets to F1 in terms of speed and rules. Karthikeyan is currently 11th in the drivers' standings, with a total of 4.5 points (the leader, JPL de Oliveira of Brazil is with 23 points) from four rounds. He still has four more rounds this season, and doesn't want to lose his optimism.

"The season so far has been up and down, really. I began strongly in April, qualifying second on a track I knew well from my F1 days (Suzuka Circuit). The other tracks, I've not been familiar with, and here the regulations are such that you have just one hour of practice before the qualifications. So I'm learning constantly and every week we need to improve to try and finish on the podium. We'll keep fighting," he said.

Super Formula to be shown live in India
Japan Race Promotion (JRP), promoters of the Super Formula championship, have reached an agreement with Star Sports to broadcast the live telecast of the Super Formula series in India. Some of the drivers featuring in this championship are India's Narain Karthikeyan, Italy's Vitantonio Liuzzi and Japan's Kazuki Nakajima. "It's great for the fans in India. The race being shown in India is going to be a big boost for motorsport fans as well as for this series," Karthikeyan said.