The last time an Indian drove a Formula 1 car in an official session was Narain Karthikeyan in 2012 when he was racing for HRT. Even though Karun Chandhok has driven the 2017 Williams F1 car last year and continues to drive the team’s heritage cars, but it is all part of a non-F1 weekend.

For some time now, Jehan Daruvala and Arjun Maini are the two drivers tipped to be the next F1 stars from the country, with the two so far doing a pretty good job in the junior championships. Both are connected to F1 teams as well, with Daruvala with Force India and Maini with Haas F1 Team.

Looking at Daruvala, he is to start his second year in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship with British team Carlin after a successful season in 2017 where he finished sixth overall and second best rookie, finishing all the 30 races with one win and two outright podiums.

While some of his peers have had the time in a F1 car already, the Mumbaikar is yet to get his chance albeit even a test one. But the 19-year-old remains unfazed with the situation. In fact, he reckons he doesn’t want to ‘rush into it’ for the sake of doing it.

“At the moment I am focused on my F3 season,” he said exclusively. “It is important that I continue improving as a driver and deliver at the top end of this very competitive championship [this season]. I am not in a rush to jump into an F1 car and would like to do so when I am ready for the same.

“In anycase, I will need to spend time in a faster car [than F3] and [also] on Pirelli rubber before I drive an F1 car. As for the F1 simulator, I have only spent half a day till date. However, I see myself doing a lot more towards the end of this year,” he added.

For now, Force India has FIA Formula 2 racer Nicholas Latifi and GP3 Series driver Nikita Mazepin in the more senior role in the squad than Daruvala, with the duo getting a crack in the VJM11 in the in-season testing and also FP1 sessions for Latifi.

With the F3 calendar very different to F1, the Indian doesn’t get a chance to share the race weekend. However, should Daruvala move up to F2 next season, he will therefore be in line to be more involved with the Force India outfit since he will share the race weekends with the team.

While one can argue that the Indian deserves the shot to be in the F1 car already after proving his caliber, but it is largely easy saying than happening with so many other factors involved. Vijay Mallya’s vision to have an Indian drive the Force India car is still to happen, but the intent is very much there.

Meanwhile, over the years, the lone Sahara Force India Academy driver has carried the team’s colours with last year an exception. This season he has gone for the same pink livery as the F1 car – albeit without the BWT sponsorship – and also wears the pink overalls, moving from the black.

Keeping on with F3, he is partnering with Ferdinand Habsburg, Sacha Fenestraz, Nikita Troitskiy, Ameya Vaidyanathan and Devlin Defrancesco - making it a big six line-up and with 2018 being his second season, it makes him one of the drivers to look out, especially since none of the Top 5 finishers from 2017 are racing this year.

“For sure being in my second year puts an additional pressure to deliver a good result,” he admits. “[But] that is a part of my development and it will be important to do well in the current year. [In fact] I feel confident of achieving good results in 2018 after my good start in 2017.”

The idea is to push for the title, but only time will tell if can achieve the feat that no other Indian has ever done. While he can be termed a favourite, one cannot discount the talent around him – whether the experienced lot of the rookies even.

He starts off his 2018 season this weekend at Pau, followed by races in Hungary (June 2-3), Germany (Norisring, June 24-25), Netherlands (July 14-15), Belgium (July 27-28), Britain (August 18-19), Italy (August 25-26), Germany (Nurburgring, September 8-9), Austria (September 22-23) and Germany (Hockenheim, October 13-14).

Latest News

DARSHAN CHOKHANI