The F1 world is continuing to adjust to its new surroundings in India.
Bruno Senna revealed to O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper that he is carrying around in his pocket a bottle of disinfectant.

“Each time I greet someone, I use it (on my hands),” said the Brazilian, referring to the risk of food poisoning.

Rubens Barrichello, meanwhile, laughed when he revealed that one of his rivals – believed to be Sebastian Vettel – is carrying around a bottle of whiskey.

“Someone told him to rinse out his mouth after eating anything,” said the Williams driver.

Felipe Massa is remembering his mother’s advice to think positively whenever he sees a cow. “They’re everywhere!” exclaimed the Ferrari star.

The smiling Barrichello added: “I heard a bell outside my hotel room and came out to the terrace — it was an elephant passing by.”

At the new Buddh circuit, the drivers think the layout will be exciting, but there are some off-track dramas.

A recurring one was clearly apparent during Thursday’s official driver press conference when a blackout struck mid-sentence.

“Listen, mate,” an unnamed engineer told the Guardian, “the place is chaos. The electricity doesn’t work, the gas doesn’t work and there are problems with the plumbing.”

Blick correspondent Roger Benoit revealed that a coffee machine exploded on Thursday due to faulty wiring.

Team Lotus driver Karun Chandhok told the Times of India: “These are only small issues and I am sure they will be sorted out soon.”

Brazilian Massa, also referring to the inescapable poverty suffered by residents just outside the circuit, told the Independent: “It reminds me very much of my country 20 or 30 years ago.

“Brazil has grown a lot since then, and so now, I believe, with events such as this, will India.”

He may not race in his native India this weekend, but Karun Chandhok could have a future with Team Lotus, boss Tony Fernandes said on Tuesday.
Earlier, the Malaysian businessman had to announce that, to his emotional disappointment, he must stick with the team’s regular lineup of Heikki Kovalainen alongside Jarno Trulli.

Fernandes had openly contemplated putting Chandhok on the Delhi grid, but ultimately decided that Team Lotus must safeguard its lucrative tenth place in the constructors’ championship.

“We had to make the best decision for the future of the team,” he said.

“While this is obviously not the decision Karun wanted us to take he understands that we have to take the long-term view and do so in the best interests of the team.”

Fernandes hinted that Chandhok, who replaced Italian Trulli for a one-off race at the Nurburgring earlier this season, may get his chance in the future.

“He understands that his relationship with our team is not about just one race, it is about growing together.

“While this is an historic event, there will be many opportunities to race in India in the future, and he is in the best possible place with us to take advantage of those chances in seasons to come,” added Fernandes.

And he said on Twitter: “If we don’t have the right finances there won’t be a team, and that includes Karun.”

Chandhok, who will nonetheless practice on Friday morning, admitted he is “obviously disappointed” he won’t be racing in front of his home crowd.

“I understand that this isn’t about me, it’s about the team and everything the 254 people on track and back at the factory are doing to build for the future,” said the 27-year-old.

 Team Lotus will contest the Indian grand prix with its regular driver lineup, the BBC said on Tuesday.
Reserve driver and Indian native Karun Chandhok had been hoping to move into the race cockpit this weekend but had flagged issues relating to Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen’s 2011 contracts.

It is also believed the Tony Fernandes-led team does not want to jeopardise its lucrative tenth place in the constructors’ standings.

Chandhok told the Press Trust of India on Sunday: “You will definitely see me in Friday’s practice session and there I will definitely give my best.”

(reuters) According to Sauber chief executive Monisha Kaltenborn. Her Swiss-based team are sponsored by dairy company Amul for Sunday’s Delhi race and she suggested other Indian firms might also now see the sport as part of a bigger picture rather than just focusing on one or two local drivers at the slow end of the grid.

“In India, all these years, it’s been so difficult to get a sponsor from the country,” the Indian-born Kaltenborn told Reuters in an interview.

“India has got such big brands and the market is huge and still people have been very cautious to get into Formula One.

“It wasn’t that easy (for a team) to get a brand from India without having any link to a (local) driver. So I think it’s all the more remarkable a brand (like Amul) has done this and I hope a lot more will follow now,” added Kaltenborn.

Narain Karthikeyan is the only Indian to have scored points in Formula One, with the now-defunct Jordan team in 2005, and he will be back on the starting grid with struggling HRT for Sunday’s race at the Buddh International circuit.

While he has healthy support from industrial giants Tata and Hero Motors, Karthikeyan will still be languishing among the tailenders.

Spanish-owned HRT have yet to score a point since their debut in 2010 and Karthikeyan’s is likely to be a one-off home appearance after he was dropped to make way for Australian rookie Daniel Ricciardo.

Karun Chandhok, India’s other F1 driver, is now only a reserve at Team Lotus – also yet to score a point.

Sauber have Mexican Sergio Perez and Japan’s Kamui Kobayashi as their drivers and are battling against Force India for sixth place in the constructor championship.

Force India, owned by liquor and aviation tycoon Vijay Mallya along with Indian business conglomerate Sahara Group, do not have Indian drivers either.

“Maybe more (Indian companies) will follow that don’t necessarily just look for the link with the driver,” continued Kaltenborn, an Austrian citizen who is married to a German and lives in Switzerland.

“Here it’s the team, the people, the drivers, the key personnel. I think if one brand is prepared to associate themselves with the team, and a team name, I hope it gives others the kick as well to do that.”

Kaltenborn said the arrival of India on what is now a 19-race global calendar provided a direct link with the public for local companies to build on.

“Since cricket is so big (in India) it takes a lot now for a company to say ‘No, we choose the platform of Formula One’,” she said.

“Until there was a race there was not really a link to the sport. Now with the first race being staged there they have a direct link, they can use it in their prime market.

“It could be the start of something to attract more Indian partners into the sport.”

Many of those companies may not have products to sell outside India but the likes of Sauber are hoping they will wake up to what the sport can provide in increasing brand visibility to a growing domestic audience who watch the races on television.

Indian telecom giant Bharti Airtel has already signed up for the race title sponsorship.

Kaltenborn, who was born in Dehradun and whose parents emigrated to Austria in 1979 when she was eight, looked forward to going to a race in a country where she had a personal as well as professional connection.

“I think it’s going to be really great,” she said.

“Suddenly the media attention and also from the people has just ramped up whereas half a year ago it was not that much. It has just suddenly come. I think that tells you what dimension this event is going to have.”

 Karun Chandhok and his father on Sunday insisted they still do not know if the Indian will be on the inaugural Buddh grid in seven days.
Team Lotus boss Tony Fernandes has said consistently he would like to see the reserve driver contest his home grand prix, but it seems Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen are firmly under contract to race at every opportunity.

“You will definitely see me in Friday’s practice session and there I will definitely give my best,” the Press Trust of India quotes Karun Chandhok as saying.

“But for the rest of the two days, we will have to wait and see.

“It’s a complicated thing because there are contractual complexities as the team has to honour the two contracted race drivers. But from my side I would love to race,” he added.

“Tony Fernandes has said many times that he would love to see it happen. But at the end of the day, one has to understand that F1 is a business.”

Chandhok’s father, federation of motor sports club of India president Vicky Chandhok, was also asked on Sunday if his son will be on the grid next week.

“That’s a question which Karun and Team Lotus have to answer … He has proved himself in Korea, but the question is beyond me,” he said.

Just over a week before the F1 circus is scheduled to congregate in India, Karun Chandhok is still waiting to hear if he will be lining up on the grid.
The Indian is Team Lotus’ reserve driver but boss Tony Fernandes has warned that he will not necessarily decide to replace one of the team’s regulars Jarno Trulli or Heikki Kovalainen so that Chandhok, 27, can contest his country’s inaugural F1 race.

“This is the most asked question to me right now,” Chandhok told the Times of India.

“Honesty speaking I don’t know what the team’s plans are. They haven’t made a decision yet and there are several factors that will govern the team’s decision which I can’t comment on.”

It is believed the hold-up is due to contractual negotiations, with Trulli, who sat out the Nurburgring for Chandhok in July, and Kovalainen signed up to contest every race on the 2011 calendar.

Sponsorship may be another issue.

Chandhok, who admitted the current waiting period is “agonising”, has practiced on Friday mornings ahead of the recent Japan/Korea double-header.

“As far as I am concerned, I have done the duties which the team has entrusted me with so far in the best possible way and have proven my abilities,” he said.

Andre Lotterer on Friday boasted that his Formula Nippon single seater is faster than the F1 cars produced by F1 backmakers Virgin and HRT.

The 29-year-old German, who is leading the Japanese championship ahead of former Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima, won the series’ Suzuka round in May.

“Theoretically, if I would have entered today’s first free practice with my Formula Nippon, I would be nineteenth,” Lotterer, a Jaguar test driver in 2002, said at Suzuka.

In May, Suzuka pole sitter Naoki Yamamoto’s Honda-powered Nippon qualified with a time of 1.40.470, which was faster than any Virgin or HRT driver could manage on Friday morning at the same Japanese circuit.

And that Formula Nippon time is just half a second behind Friday morning’s slowest Team Lotus runner Karun Chandhok.

The 2011 Formula Nippon single seaters are built by American manufacturer Swift and powered by 3.4 litre V8 engines supplied by Toyota or Honda.

Karun Chandhok is today a shadow of the boy who a decade ago dreamed of emulating his heroes.

On a trip to Delhi this week, he revealed to the Daily Pioneer that when he left high school he peaked at 96 kilograms.

“I was told that if I wanted to race I had to lose weight in order to first fit in the car,” said Chandhok, who as Team Lotus’ reserve driver is tipped to contest India’s inaugural grand prix late next month.

“So I lost 26 kg in less than six months and went on to win the Indian national racing championship. I guess that was the turning point for me,” added the now 27-year-old, who graduated to British F3 and then GP2.

A month before the first Indian grand prix, F1′s complete driver lineup for the Delhi race is not yet clear.
At HRT, Narain Karthikeyan’s sponsors have paid to put the Indian back in a race car for the country’s inaugural F1 event, but who his teammate will be is not publicly known.

Karthikeyan began 2011 alongside Vitantonio Liuzzi, whose manager said recently the Italian has a solid contract for every grand prix this season.

In the other car now is Daniel Ricciardo, thanks to a collaboration deal between the struggling Spanish team and the Australian rookie’s backer Red Bull.

The 22-year-old will be in Delhi this weekend to demonstrate a Red Bull F1 car.

He confirmed to the Times of India that he will be returning in late October “for the race”.

“I will probably spend some time in the city and have a look around and then get down to business,” said Ricciardo.

HRT has been contacted for comment.

At Team Lotus, meanwhile, rumours are still swirling that team regular Jarno Trulli will sit it out so that India’s other F1 driver can race in Delhi.

“Hopefully when the time comes I will be sitting on the grid waiting for the lights to go green,” reserve driver Karun Chandhok told the Daily Pioneer on a visit to the Buddh circuit this week.

Nico Rosberg is reportedly yet to receive a visa to enter India for the country’s inaugural formula one grand prix.
That is the claim of the Times of India, revealing that other F1 team members and journalists are experiencing simular difficulties whilst preparing to travel to Delhi next month.

The rumours had begun to emerge in the Monza paddock last weekend.

“I just came back from Monza where people have been complaining about how difficult it is to get visas for the trip to India,” said Team Lotus reserve driver Karun Chandhok, whose father Vicky is the head of India’s motor sport clubs.

Amid the recent tax and customs issue surrounding F1′s freight, the Indian government admitted this week that it does not regard the grand prix – organised by a fully private entity – as an “event of national importance”.

One figure who has had his visa application rejected, according to the Times of India, is Mercedes driver Rosberg.

The same is also true for “half” of the HRT team, the newspaper added.

Even the FIA’s head of communications is still waiting for his visa.

“If the government takes three weeks to process a visa application, almost 90 per cent of F1 people, me included, won’t attend the race,” Matteo Bonciani warned.

Karun Chandhok has admitted he is hoping to race at Team Lotus in 2012.
While his countryman Narain Karthikeyan will be in action for HRT at India’s inaugural F1 race in October, Chandhok admitted he is unsure if he will also be on the grid in New Delhi.

He told the Hindustan Times that his real priority is 2012.

Reserve driver Chandhok, 27, revealed that he will appear in the green T128 for Friday practice a couple more times this season.

“(And) for 2012, I am looking at a potential full time race seat,” he said.

Chandhok insists, however, that he was signed by Team Lotus this year on merit, and that his sponsors have not guaranteed him a race seat next year.

“There’s no deal,” he said. “It’s just another wrong perception like the belief that I paid to get into Lotus.”

He said he will only earn his place based on his speed on Friday mornings.

“That’s a big internal assessment for the team. I also want to be on the grid after earning the respect of the team engineers and not just because I am Indian,” said Chandhok.

Heikki Kovalainen says he is happy his teammate Jarno Trulli is back up to speed.
Italian veteran Trulli struggled with Team Lotus’ power steering system in the first half of the season and actually sat out the Nurburgring before updated technology was added to the green T128 in Hungary.

Trulli was duly delighted with the new system at the Hungaroring, and his Finnish teammate Kovalainen admits it was also a relief for him after sharing the garage with Indian Karun Chandhok a week earlier.

“The fact that the new steering is better for him is positive for the whole team, and me as well,” he told motorline.cc.

“When you’re on your own, you don’t know if you’re doing your job well or not. You need a good comparison.

“Karun did a respectable performance (in Germany) but Jarno has much more experience and that’s exactly what we need in our team at the moment.

“I can say that the stronger my teammate is and the better he feels in the car, the better it is for me, because I am driven so much more to the limit,” added Kovalainen.

Bernie Ecclestone has proved he can turn even a violent mugging into a commercial opportunity.

The F1 chief executive was viciously punched and kicked outside F1′s London headquarters late last month as a reportedly hugely-expensive watch was taken from his wrist.

A graphic photo of his battered face is now featured on a print advert for his sport’s official watch sponsor, including the Ecclestone quote: “See what people will do for a Hublot.”

The Nyon-based Swiss watchmaker confirmed in a statement that the photograph and quote attributed to 80-year-old Ecclestone in the advert are genuine.

7sur7.be said the adverts will debut in the Financial Times and the International Herald Tribune on Wednesday.

Indian F1 driver Karun Chandhok said the move was “classic Mr. E”.

With highly rated drivers still on the market, Force India’s race lineup for 2011 is a hot topic.

Adrian Sutil has not yet been confirmed by the Silverstone based team for next season, while the likes of Nick Heidfeld, Nico Hulkenberg and Karun Chandhok are all linked with his seat.

And while Vitantonio Liuzzi has a contract for next year, team owner and boss Vijay Mallya has hinted that more than one place is available.

“We are the most attractive team with open spaces,” Auto Motor und Sport quotes him as saying.

With India set to join the F1 calendar, the sport’s chief executive Bernie Ecclestone thinks Indian Chandhok in the Force India is an ideal lineup.

Mallya answered: “Well, everyone out there wants to drive for Force India.

“We (will) sit with the team and decide in the next couple of weeks who our new drivers are going to be for next season,” he told Gulf News Xpress.

Meanwhile, it is believed that the potentially vacant seat alongside Robert Kubica at Renault is no longer available.

“Since (Russian president) Vladimir Putin became a formula one fan, (Vitaly) Petrov has even more support in his pocket,” Heidfeld is quoted as saying.

According to the latest rumour in the F1 paddock, Karun Chandhok may be in talks with Lotus about joining Tony Fernandes’ team for 2011.

The rumour was aired on British television on Saturday morning from Korea, with pit reporter Ted Kravitz saying the Indian driver could become reserve driver before moving into the race cockpit in 2012.

Kravitz quoted a Lotus team member as admitting that the 26-year-old Indian, who made his debut with HRT this year before being sidelined by the better-funded Sakon Yamamoto, is a “great guy”.

Chandhok said this week that he is hopeful his F1 career has not floundered permanently after just half a season.

“There is a lot to discuss for next year with the HRT team, but also with other teams to see what other options are available for me, but I do feel good about my prospects,” he is quoted by The National newspaper.

UK-based Chandhok has not attended the most recent Japanese and Korean grands prix.