“I spent a frustrating time with Jordan, where I had a car that just could not perform. I have no desire to be with another pedestrian team that's low on performance and loud on talk. I never even approached Mallya. The vibes from the camp have been extremely negative and I want to make it clear that I am not interested in driving for Force India,” the Hindustan Times quoted Karthikeyan as saying.
Soon after announcing his team's lineup for 2009 – no Indian driver was selected, not even for the test driving seat, retained by Vitantonio Liuzzi – Mallya argued his decision by the fact that neither Karthikeyan, nor GP2 driver Karun Chandhok were F1 material. If the Indian billionaire left the door open for Chandhok, Narain's chances of joining Force India were practically slammed.
“In my F1 context, Narain doesn't fit in. I have not let my personal relationahip (with Karun Chandhok) come in between. Only the lack of suitable replacements has forced us to retain the same team for 2009. The normally expected GP2 graduation didn't happen this time,” said Mallya.
Narain failed to score a single point in F1, but won his first race in the A1 GP World Cup of Motorsport for Team India last season. He explained that, although he had the opportunity to race in F1 in the past, he turned it down due to poor racing programmes or bad machineries.
“Spyker offered me a drive in August 2007. I declined as the team was going nowhere. Except in F1, where machine matters more than man, I have won races in every championship that I have participated in,” concluded Karthikeyan.
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