New Delhi, October 25 (IANS): Lotus reserve driver Karun Chandhok Tuesday said it will be painful for him to watch the inaugural Indian Grand Prix from the sidelines after his team decided to go with the regular drivers line-up of the season.
Chandhok was confident of getting the nod for the race Sunday but Team Lotus management stuck to the more experienced drivers in Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen. The Indian, however, will drive on the Buddh International Circuit (BIC) in Friday's practice session. The development also means that Hispania's Narain Karthikeyan will be the sole Indian to take part in the 60-lap race.
The Chennai-based driver said he was disappointed to miss out on the race especially after featuring regularly in the last three practice sessions in Singapore, Japan and Korea.
"It will be painful to watch the race from the paddock. It is a huge disappointment," Chandhok told IANS.
"My preparation was on track leading up to the home race. I was driving regularly in the practice sessions leading up to the Indian Grand Prix and was faster than the Hispania and Virgin Racing drivers. So I was confident that the team would would give me another opportunity on the race day but I respect their decision," said Chandhok, who last drove in the German Grand Prix.
Team Lotus' chief executive Tony Fernandes, who was born to an Indian father, said leaving out Chandhok was a difficult decision.
"From the team perspective the key goal for us this weekend is to maintain the performance levels we saw in the last two races. I am sure there will be fans in India who want to see Karun race for us on Sunday and we had to make the best decision for the future of the team," said Fernandes.
"While all the emotional reasons for him driving were right we were conscious that the limited running he has had in the car this season, largely due to the weather conditions that have hit most of his practice sessions, has not given him the best preparation for this race, so we have taken the very difficult decision not to run him in this weekend," the Malaysian business tycoon said in a statement.
Team's decision of retaining the same line-up at BIC can be linked their position in the Constructor's Championship. The Britain-based team is 10th in the standings and would want to remain ahead of Virgin Racing and Hispania because it brings a guaranteed increased income - as well as other privileges, such as the size of motor homes and garage space.
"It is absolutely vital that we secure tenth place to give us the platform to keep growing and despite the fact that Karun's performance levels have continued to improve every time he has driven for us in 2011. It was considered too much pressure to put on Karun to drive in his first home race, deal with all the attention he would have had and be able to perform at the same level as either of our regular race drivers over the whole weekend. For that reason we had to take the pragmatic decision to put our faith in the experience and pace we have in Jarno and Heikki," he said.
Chandhok, who drove for Hispania in 10 races last season, replaced Trulli at the Nurburgring in July and finished 20th from the same place on the grid.