Hispania Take on Chandhok

Karun Chandhok will become the second Indian driver to compete in Formula One when he joins up with the new Hispania Racing team this season.

As expected, 26-year-old Chandhok has been signed by the new outfit, formerly known as Campos Meta, and will reportedly provide a significant amount of the much-needed sponsorship funds.

Chennai-born Chandhok will partner Brazilian rookie Bruno Senna, nephew of the late triple world champion Ayrton Senna, at the Spanish-based team.

Chandhok formerly competed in A1GP before spending the last three years driving in GP2, finishing an unremarkable 15th, 10th and 18th in the drivers' standings.

But despite his uninspiring record, team principal Colin Kolles believes Chandhok will be a worthy addition to the outfit when the season gets underway in Bahrain next weekend.
Impressed

"We have been very impressed with Karun's performance in GP2," said Kolles.

"India is a great country. It will be great for the sport to have an Indian driver on the grid for the first Indian Grand Prix (yet to be officially confirmed)."

The team has been plagued by problems over the last few months, leading to an internal takeover a few weeks ago, but Kolles insists Hispania Racing has a future in F1.

"Everything is now in place, after an impossible race against time, to register the team's name," added Kolles.

"I truly believe we have an excellent platform to build on and move forward for a strong 2010 performance.

"Now, we need to work together. We need to learn together and keep developing as a team."

India's only other F1 driver was Narain Karthikeyan, who drove with Jordan for one season in 2005.