Question: First of all your impression of India.
Narain Karthikeyan: First of all, as I have been saying, I did not think in my racing career that I would be racing in India and here we are just around the corner. With the circuit, again like everybody else, it is wide in some places, I am sure lots of different lines you are going to see, lots of overtaking. It is definitely a very challenging circuit, with lots of run off areas and so on, so they have done a very good job, no doubt.
Question: Narain, the expectations of a huge nation are on your shoulders. How are they?
Narain Karthikeyan: Well I can say so many things, but the realistic thing with our car is to possibly finish the race and beat your team-mate. If you do that, I think at the moment, we can’t expect much more. It is an historic and symbolic moment that an Indian driver is on the grid and, of course, there is a lot following Formula One for a long time. There will be a lot of fans here. It will be hard to explain but it is what it is. I want to enjoy the weekend, have a lot of fun, and try and do the best I can do.
Question: What are your inner feelings at the moment. Massive excitement? Anticipation?
Narain Karthikeyan: Yeah, lots of, thousands of requests for passes. I just need to relax and from tomorrow it is going to be different, you are in the car a lot. I just want to enjoy the whole atmosphere. My family, everyone is coming. All the sponsors and so on so it is a huge day for Indian motorsport and those first few laps tomorrow are going to be very special, yes.
Question: Just give us some indication of the support you have had from India and from the industry as well?
Narain Karthikeyan: Since I started in Formula Three in England I had the support of the Tata Group, India’s largest group, and a few other sponsors. Once Formula One is here the exposure will create a big opportunity for the young drivers and for the whole motorsport infrastructure to grow. We are all looking forward to it. India is different to China. There has been a lot of interest in Formula One for a long time and and Michael probably has millions of sponsors here. It has been that long, since 1993, that it has been on TV live here and I think it is going to be very good for the sport and all the motorsport fraternity here is very, very excited.
Question: Narain, given how dusty the track is, and that there will probably be a line with grip and if you get off the racing line, it will be fairly dusty, is there concern about trying to overtake in circumstances like this, with the DRS wing open?
Narain Karthikeyan: Well, off-line yes, it is going to be dirty for sure, so you just have to see where the best level of grip is and go for it. For us, the big problem is when you go off-line when you get lapped, that’s the problem. We will try to see how it goes. The track is going to evolve a lot and we have to see where the level of grip is.
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