This Coimbatore-born racer has kept himself busy despite exiting the Formula 1 circuit eight years ago. Narain Karthikeyan shifted to sports cars. During his maiden season in sports car racing, he won the Super GT x DTM Dream Race at Fuji Speedway while driving a Honda NSX-GT Super GT500.
Now, the 42-year-old plans to stay away from the Super GT and focus on developing automotive-related ventures. As the brand ambassador for Usha International, he’s part of Usha’s initiatives like Silai School that aims to turn rural women into entrepreneurs. Narain is something of a budding businessman himself. “I’m currently spending a lot of my time travelling all across the country developing my businesses like DriveX – a digital shared mobility platform,” explains the ex-Williams test driver. We catch up with him. Excerpts:
Who are the main contenders for the Driver’s Championship?
It will be a fight between the drivers of the top three teams: Mercedes, RedBull and Ferrari.
Will the team rivalry between Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc get out of hand?
It will all depend on how Ferrari manage the situation. Charles being the young man he is, we could be looking at the new face of Ferrari.
Thoughts on any new faces?
Esteban Ocon and Lando Norris are exciting prospects.
Your thoughts on Jehan Daruvala, who was recently inducted into the Red Bull Junior programme and hopes to become the third Indian in F1?
Jehan’s had a very impressive career so far in karting and the Junior Formulae. I think with the right guidance, and the right results, he could be in F1 in the not-so-distant future.