First there's the idea of a national team such as Force India, afterwards there's the securing of an Indian Grand Prix as soon as possible and now it's his feverish desire to get Indian driver Karun Chandhok in a Formula One cockpit no matter what. While constantly affirming his support for the “talented” Chandhok – since the very beginning of the year – Ecclestone now admitted disappointment over Force India's decision to name Vitantonio Liuzzi as official replacement of Giancarlo Fisichella for the remainder of 2009.
According to the F1 supremo, Chandhok deserves a chance to prove himself in Formula One this year, in order to squeeze a deal for 2010. In addition, Ecclestone made no secret from the fact that Karun's debut in the series would also boost the chances of having an Indian F1 race in 2011.
“I was hoping Vijay would give Karun a chance. We need to get Karun in the Formula One car quickly. And he has got the talent and the ability, so it's a case of somebody just getting on and doing it now,” said Ecclestone in an interview with the Hindustan Times.
“I'm a little disappointed that he has put the Italian guy (Liuzzi) in. Whether he has to do this by contract I don't know, but I would have liked to see Karun in the car,” added the Brit.
Although he has majority stake in the Force India outfit, Vijay Mallya is yet to field an Indian driver in one of his VJMs. Not only that, but not even the test driving role at Force India was given to a fellow countryman, despite the fact that Chandhok is known to be a close friend of the Indian billionaire. Karun is currently competing in the GP2 Series for Ocean Racing Technology (ORT), where he sits 18th overall after 8 events.
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