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Karthikeyan defies odds, retains 3rd place

Narain Karthikeyan endured a dramatic race at Snetterton, with incident piled upon incident, to retain his 3rd place standing in the British Formula 3 Championship.

For a while, it looked as though all was lost. On lap two the 4th placed driver in the series, England's rising star Jenson Button, was lying in 2nd place whilst Narain was bringing up the rear of the field. This would have dropped him to 4th place overall.

As the leading cars assembled at the start following the warming-up lap, waiting for the lights which would signal the beginning of a meteoric battle between pole sitter Luciano Burti, second-placed Marc Hynes, Karthikeyan and Button, Narain's engine stalled. Simultaneously raising his right hand to warn the cars behind him and hitting the start button with his left, Narain got his engine to kick back into life, and the light sequence to begin the race fired up. But Karthikeyan's distress signal had also been picked up by the officials of the course, who immediately ordered that the start be delayed and then, abandoned.

The FIA regulations are clear in such circumstances and all the work of testing and qualifying by Karthikeyan and his Carlin Motorsport crew over the weeks leading up to this moment were negated as the young Indian was ordered to take up position at the back of the 18-car grid.

It seemed an impossible task -- Karthikeyan's main adversary, Jenson Button, had inherited his own hard-earned 3rd place in the race by default and now he had to battle his way past 15 cars to be on a level playing field. Clearly, this wasn't cricket!

As the cars surged forward into the first corner of the 21-lap race around the twisting 2-mile circuit, Mathew Davies got the advantage on Button for 3rd place behind Burti and Hynes but Button launched himself up to 2nd place behind Burti on the next lap. Two laps later, he threw the race away as he entered the notorious bomb-hole section of the circuit - a deep hollow at one of the fastest points which unsettles the car and demands the utmost control from the driver. Button now found himself facing the same challenge as Karthikeyan had earlier, as he rejoined the track in last place.

Karthikeyan had moved up to 14th but was blocked by the slower car of Japan's Yudai Igarashi. Lap after lap went by with Karthikeyan trying everything that he knew to get past the car in front until finally he dived on Igarashi under braking for Russell corner and made contact with the back of his fellow Asian's car which went into a spin, blocking Karthikeyan's path on the exit.

Unbelievably, Karthikeyan's car control and evasive action prevented him from hitting the side of Igarashi's car and he crawled out of the wreckage area in first gear with Button now on full throttle behind him and gaining fast.

With Karthikeyan struggling to accelerate down the straight and Button close on his gearbox, yet again it looked as though he would lose his advantage in the points. But he managed to hold his line for the first, fast-sweeping right hand corner and led his main adversary through the field onto lap 13.

At this point, the safety car was brought out onto the circuit whilst the wreckage of the Japanese driver's car, which had nearly seen the end of Karthikeyan's race, was removed. Karthikeyan's front wings were badly damaged and in danger of collapsing but when the safety car shot into the pits it was Button who again made an error, spinning on the dirt at the last corner exit in a vain attempt to take Karthikeyan. He recovered but once more was at the back of the field and seemingly out of contention.

Karthikeyan moved up to 11th place and a spin on the next lap from Thailand's Tor Sriachavanon promoted him to 10th leaving him to pass Britain's Timothy Spouge. Under pressure from India's greatest driver, Spouge locked up his brakes at Russell corner and out of control, sped across the gravel trap directly into Narain's path. Yet again, Karthikeyan took evasive action and narrowly missed the rear of the car, as he shot off up the pit straight to chase for another position in the race.

A mistake by Toby Scheckter also saw the demise of Brazilian driver Aluzio Coelho and a visit to the hospital for Scheckter. With Stewart Racing's Andrew Kirkcaldy also out of contention on lap 16, Narain Karthikeyan finished the race in an incredible 6th position whilst Jenson Button managed to hold on for 10th place and just one Championship point.

It would be easy to say that Narain Karthikeyan was robbed of victory in this race by the failure of his engine at the start but in characteristic style, India's emerging ace said, "It was my fault - I caused that engine to stall by lifting my clutch pedal a fraction too far as I prepared for the start. It is an incredibly tense time for all of us sitting alone on the grid and I guess I was a little too hungry for my third race win…… the irony is that I restarted before the lights had come on but, having signaled to those around and behind me of the danger, I was then sent to the back of the grid. After this, the race was unbelievable - I had the pace of the guys in the lead but had to contend with slower cars who did all they could to keep me behind them - for a back runner, beating me to the line is good news for their PR people! I was hit up the rear several times and I must admit that I also put physical pressure on those cars in front who were blocking my progress.

"I don't know how I survived all those race incidents - you have to be in the cockpit to realize the split-second timing which determines if you crash or survive - but somehow I chose the right piece of track to position myself on when cars were spinning in front of me.

"To start last, finish 6th and to hold 3rd position in the Championship is enough for me for one day. My attention is now on the next race and I will be out testing again on Wednesday."

Jackie Stewart's driver, Luciano Burti, took the race win with Britain's Mark Hynes close behind him and Matthew Davies a creditable 3rd. After Burti's spectacular 5th fastest lap in Stewart's F1 car at the recent Monza tests, he is without doubt the man of the moment as he resumes the Championship lead in the British F3 series.

Narain Karthikeyan was seemingly out of contention from the start of this race, but like Mika Hakkinen who also fought back from a disastrous race today in the Austrian Grand Prix, Karthikeyan proved that - his tenacity and talent must never be underestimated. The Formula 1 team bosses won't simply ask where Karthikeyan finished the race when they return from Austria - they will be also be interested to hear that he started last and never gave up the fight.