Karthikeyan says he’s trying to do the best with what he has

Barcelona: Narain Karthikeyan has Fernando Alonso as his role model.

Not a bad choice. The Formula One season leader after five races, Alonso didn’t score a point with Minardi as a rookie four years ago.

Since then, he has won four times and finished second in last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix to Kimi Raikkonen of McLaren-Mercedes.

Karthikeyan finished three laps behind Alonso on Sunday, far out of the points, driving a car that was four to five seconds slower per lap than Alonso’s. But he finished, which is like winning for drivers on some of the also-ran teams.

The first Indian driver in Formula One, Karthikeyan doesn’t expect to score a point in his rookie season with Jordan. He just hopes to get noticed, keep learning and justify his sponsorship from the Tata Group and Bharat Petroleum.

?The driver is only as good as his car,? Karthikeyan said at the Spanish GP. ?Alonso didn’t do that much at Minardi, but people knew he was talented and he got the right opportunity.?

In the five races held so far this season, Karthikeyan has finished 15th, 11th, 14th and 13th, and failed to complete one race. In Bahrain his car went out after two laps with electrical problems.

It’s unclear if Karthikeyan has Alonso’s talent, but he already had 12 years of driving experience before moving to Jordan in February shortly after the team was bought by Russia-born billionaire Alex Shnaider.

He impressed quickly, completing the Australian Grand Prix a few days later with barely any practice in his new car.

?It’s been hard, I’ve had a lot to learn,? said Karthikeyan, 28, who drove last season in the Nissan World Series ? a top feeder circuit for Formula One. He also had test drives with Minardi and Jaguar (now Red Bull) before joining Jordan.

?With what I have, I’m trying to do the best I can,? said Karthikeyan, who is hoping for a faster car from Jordan this summer.

?The learning curve is pretty high. So it’s one step at a time, but it’s going okay.?

The Tata Group signed Karthikeyan several years ago, hoping to capitalise on the face of a young Indian sportsman who wasn’t a cricketer. Like soccer in most of Europe, cricket in India dominates 90 per cent of the sports coverage.

Karthikeyan says he was never any good at cricket. However, at the Spanish GP, India’s No. 1 cricket star Sachin Tendulkar was the team’s guest in the paddock.

?He likes racing and he follows Formula One,? Karthikeyan said of Tendulkar. ?I’m India’s top racing driver, so we got to know each other. It’s great for me because he’s such a big hero in India.?

Asked to compare his profile to Tendulkar’s, Karthikeyan laughed. ?The gap is huge. Everyone knows him.?

Signing an Indian driver was a natural for Jordan, which hopes to tap into an enormous market of one billion people. Formula One’s commercial director Bernie Ecclestone already has said he expects India to stage a Formula One race within three years ? probably in Mumbai.

If it gets a race, India would join other non-traditional Formula One nations that have been awarded races ? Bahrain, China and Turkey most recently.

Weighing only 64 kg, Karthikeyan is slight ? probably the smallest driver in Formula One.

?I think the weight is just right,? he said. ?And I think my strength is very good.?

He acknowledges he has no hope of winning this season. Even finishing on the podium ?would take a lot of luck, to be honest,? he said. His goal is to crack through to the top-10, and wait until Jordan inroduces a new car this summer.

?My dream was to be the first Indian Formula One driver, and now the dream is to be the very first Indian to win a Formula One race,? said Karthikeyan, who was coaxed into the sport by his rally-driving father.

?I see my future in Formula One if it’s with Jordan or somebody else, but I know I will be here for a couple of more years.?