He spoke about a lot of things, but his answer to the most important question, his return to F1 had a very terse response.

Now that Vijay Mallya’s [Images] Force India has severed ties with Ferrari — opting for McLaren instead — does it mean a return to F1 for India’s only driver with that experience? Has he had talks with Force India regarding a comeback?

“No,” said Narain, a one-word answer, sans any explanation, but with enough scope to read between the lines.

But that is Narain Karthikeyan for you — a man of few words, always at his diplomatic best. And lest we forget, he continues to be a show-stopper.

Narain Karthikeyan Unplugged. - Über Desi

For Patel, currently placed ninth overall and fourth in the rookie class of the Formula BMW series, it will be a steep learning curve on a circuit that has tested the best of racing drivers.

Of more significance is the fact that Macau Grand Prix is often considered as a stepping stone for young drivers hoping to progress to elite Formula One racing as the event usually attracts talent scouts.

Patel has not had the best season this year.

Patel, in his debut BMW Pacific season, has had an up-and-down outing as he had to overcome a poor start due to his own inexperience as also an ill-handling machine.

And as far as inspiration goes, it is as simple as a phone call for the budding youngster.

Patel said he would be in touch with his mentor Narain Karthikeyan, India’s first F1 driver, for tips on the Guia circuit. Besides Karthikeyan, the other Indian to race in Macau was Karun Chandhok.

We wish him luck and will keep our eyes open to see how his race progresses.

Aditya Patel will race in Macau - Über Desi

For any racer, Formula One is a big thing and I am no exception. I have been working hard with the A1 team and thoroughly enjoying it but F1 is my ultimate dream, When I was with Jordan, the aim would
be to out-do your teammate. You have to be with bigger teams to get podium finishes.

He also spoke about missing the first race of the A1GP, because the Team India car was not delivered.

A good performance there would have given us momentum, But I feel they should declare it as a non-championship race

But he went back to speaking about F1

It was quite cool. That was the first time the car was tested and we finished first! The result gave us a huge boost for the rest of the weekend. There is a dramatic jump in the downforce level of the car. With this engine, the car feels more like a Formula One car from the 2004-05 season.

Only if things were easier.

Narain still holding on to the F1 dream. - Über Desi

Then there was Narain Karthikeyan and the great SARS scare. It’s fair to say that Narain has always been a bit of a worrier and a lot of a hypochondriac, but he wasn’t well that weekend and eventually decided that he wanted to go home to his Mum back in India. He therefore left Macau - or at least tried to. It wasn’t long before news of what had happened started to filter back however. Needless to say, given his record, most of us were unkindly amused when it turned out that he’s triggered the SARS alarms at the ferry terminal and was instantly surrounded by bio-hazard suited officials, bundled into an ambulance and carted away. It turned out to be dengue fever so at least he was right that he did have something wrong with him. Narain actually was mightily quick round Macau, but he’d got this awful habit of crashing at Maternity Bend. There were suggestions it should be renamed Narain Bend after he’d pulled the same stunt three years out of three.

Narain’s Macau SARS scare. - Über Desi

Mallya reiterated at the deal’s announcement that the team does not intend “at present” to change its current line-up of Italian Giancarlo Fisichella and Germany’s Adrian Sutil.

However the billionaire businessman did not rule out the prospect that other candidates might be tested for the two race seats.

“They (McLaren) will recommend what they believe to be in the best interests of my team and I have to decide. And I would be hard pressed to ignore their advice,” Mallya said.

“The first thing is building the car. If we don’t have a car then there’s no point having a driver…It’s already pushing the envelope a little bit, so we need to focus on the car. The driver comes next and we will have these conversations.”

But going back to the drivers, Mallya made it clear that winning was the only thing on his mind and he would do whatever it takes.

“I haven’t gone into any details on drivers yet,” said Mallya, who in the past week has ousted former team principal Colin Kolles and technical head Mike Gascoyne while also terminating Force India’s supply of Ferrari engines.

“I have taken some very hard decisions in the last week for this team. My interest is this team and it has to go where I want it to go.

“I am going to do whatever it takes. There are no emotions involved.”

At the other end of the deal, McLaren were not shy to re-iterate the fact that they will be pushing for their drivers to occupy the Force India seats. With the appointment of Simor Roberts, a McLaren veteran who will move into the Chief Operating Officer post at Force India, this seems very possible.

“There’s nothing off-bounds in this partnership,” McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh said, when asked about drivers.

“We will make proposals and recommendations that we think are enhancing the prospect of good performance from this team.

“I suspect he (Mallya) has some staggering business commitments outside of Formula One and he would expect us, as specialists and professionals in this field, to be making all of the recommendations that are necessary to ensure that we go forward.”

The drivers being talked about right now are Perdo de la Rosa, McLaren’s permanent tester and Gary Paffet who shares the responsibilities with the Spaniard and Scot Paul di Resta, who has tested for McLaren before.

While this might stand in the way of Indian drivers getting a default seat in Force India, this might work in favor of both partners. Mallya gets more than just the drive train from Mercedes, Mercedes can use this opportunity to market their products in India and McLaren will essentially have a B team to test their drive train. F1 has always been about data, with more data McLaren will certainly do better.

In the meanwhile we are also following Chandok to see if he gets a test in the already overcrowded paddocks of F1.

Force India to become McLaren’s B team, Almost. - Über Desi

With an amazing season coming to an end, the F1 circus, Renault in particular, took a detour to India before heading home.

The road show of the F1 team, sponsored by ING Vysya, will have a spectacular display of the 2007 Renault F1 cars driving down the Rajpath. The show will comprise stunts by professional drivers on Renault Megane Trophy cars, the Toon cars and the display of their Logan cars.

Delhi GP delayed by a year

Meanwhile, Delhi’s GP has been delayed by a year [Tip F1 Fan]. There is no official word on why the GP has been delayed by a year, up until the announcement, Mallya was convinced that the 2010 time line was realistic. The other problem with the GP also seems to be internal politics. With the Indian Olympics Committee originally set to handle the entire event, another private firm seems to have taken the lead role, while news still trickles out of IOC.

India’s date with Formula One racing is delayed by another year, to 2011, Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi said on Thursday but refused to give any reason for it.

Management Changes at Force India F1

In related news, Force India F1 have parted ways with Mike Gascoyne and team boss Colin Kolles. It looks like Vijay Mallya will play a bigger role in next years operations. For those who care to remember, Gascoyne was the brain behind the Toyota team and helped design their car up until he moved to Force India. A new technical director, according to Mallya will be named shortly.

In a statement, Mallya said

Force India is my most difficult project to date and it has become clear that it requires more direct input from my side and greater performance accountability, We have come a long way this season, but we need more and that requires some radical reorganisation of the management structure to ensure the maximum productivity. I would like to thank Colin Kolles for his tireless efforts in keeping such a small team alive and to Mike Gascoyne for bringing his wealth of technical expertise. Both have played an instrumental part in making the team what it is today.

On Monday November 10th, I will announce the new technical direction of the team as well as the appointment of a new Chief Operating Officer who will assume overall responsibility for our Silverstone and Brackley facilities, Race and Test operations.

For the Indian fans, this gives a very small opening for Narain Karthikeyan to get into Force India. Karthikeyan did not have a great relationship with Kolles and this was public knowledge. When Karthikeyan did not get picked, even as a test driver for Force India, rumors were circulating on the web that it was Kolles who was blocking Narain’s return to F1. This should no longer be the problem.

Team India scores first point in Chinese round of A1GP

Speaking of Karthikeyan, Team India managed to secure their first point in the 08-09 A1GP season at the race in China. With the construction of cars being delayed, Team India was one of few outfits that did not participate in the season opener. This gave Narain additional time to run in the rookie practice session and he managed to top the time sheets, however when it came to race pace, it looks like the Indian team has more work to do. However, banking a point in the “first” race of the season is better than coming home empty handed.

Force India, splits with Ferrari, picks McLaren for next year’s engine.

Updating our earlier story Force India have officially parted ways with Ferrari. Instead of picking the Italian engine and KERS system, they have opted to move to a Mercedes powerplant.

With huge changes in the pipeline for Force Indian, including the reported signing of a technical deal with McLaren that will see the backmarker outfit supplied with engine, gearbox and the new KERS from the Championship-winning team, Mallya has implimented a management reshuffle.

With so much happening, I lost track of Naren Kumar and his WRC results. Does anyone have any updates on that?

Desi motorsport roundup. - Über Desi

So it was indeed a pleasant surprise to hear today that Force India is going to tie in with Team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes (a team that counts this blogger as one of it die-hard fans, through thick and thin) to use McLaren’s cars (via Autoblog). Incidentally, Force India’s cars are currently powered by Ferrari customer engines.

What is interesting is that Force India, whose cars have often been two seconds or more off the pace, is switching from one front runner to another. While Ferrari won both the Constructors and the Drivers Championship last year thanks to some arguably dubious decision by the FIA, their Drivers title hopes this year have been hampered by some silly work by their drivers and their otherwise brilliant pit crew. On the other hand the Silver Arrows, a perennial front runner for the most part of the last two decades and a team that recently celebrated 40 years of winning in Formula One, have been charging ahead this year. Lewis Hamilton is comfortably placed to win the fight for the Drivers championship, but the race is as close as it is only because of the rampant behind-the-scenes skulduggery by the mad hatters otherwise known as the FIA.

However, the deal is currently tentative, since Formula One has deemed that customer engines/cars are objectionable and has decreed that come 2010, teams such as Force India must build their own chassis and engines, rather than sourcing from teams such as McLaren. Hence this development merits a close watch since it presents the thought that, that with cost cutting being the new mantra in Formula One, technology sharing is perhaps the way to go.

And the avid F1 watchers here at UD will keep you all in the know. Watch this space for more.

Force India ties up with McLaren - Über Desi

A few days ago, I wrote about why Karun should not take the tester role at Force India F1 and he agrees.

It’s nice to hear that he would like me to be involved in the team and from a patriotic and emotional angle, that’s great. But at the end of the day, races and careers have to be tackled using head and not heart, I would love to test with a top team and I am in discussion with some of the teams further up the field, apart from Force India,” he said.

Chandok says thanks, but no thanks. - Über Desi

Force India boss Vijay Mallya has indicated that his Silverstone-based team will not be changing their line-up ahead of next season but an earlier promise by Mallya that by 2009 the team would field a countryman could yet be honoured.

While Karthikeyan is keeping his silence, personally I think Karun Chandok has a way better shot. He is in the GP2 series, which happens to be the feeder series for F1 and he has been performing pretty well. His team iSport international is currently leading the team score and his sponsor Red Bull racings junior team has at least one seat available for next year.

Karthikeyan or Chandok? What do you guys think?

Karthikeyan could be back - The F1 silly season has begun - Über Desi

As happy as I was to seeing another Indian face in the paddock, I was intrigued by who this man was. The regular readers and friends know that F1 is the only sport I really care about and Schumacher is one of my all time favorite driver and the Scuderia being my choice of team. The fact that I knew nothing about this guru, who apparently was very close to Schumi, made me search and I had to share this with you.

To start… I had to look for how Balbir met Schumi and the answer was on the Force India website.

Born in the Punjab, but a long time resident of Germany, Singh had no connections with motor sport when a chance encounter led him to meeting Schumacher. Having just left Benetton, the then double World Champion was searching for a physio to work with him at Ferrari.

‘I was working in a hospital and I had a contact through his uncle,’ says Balbir. ‘He was coming to me, and one day he said, ‘Hey, Michael is looking for somebody.’ This was November 1995, and Michael was starting testing with Ferrari with white overalls.

‘There were another few guys before me who probably didn’t fit him, but I had never worked in motor sport before. I met him and I was supposed to stay with him for four days in Paul Ricard. I took a one week holiday and went there. After four days Michael said to me, ‘How many days did you take for your holiday?’ ‘One week.’ He said, ‘Can you stay Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and then I can send you home?’ I said, ‘OK.’ So Saturday I went back and the week after he called me and said, ‘I’ve decided, we have to work together.’

‘I said, ‘I have my contract here, I can’t just leave my patients…’ He said, ‘No worries, you just give me the person, and we can fix it up.’ So a week later my boss said ‘You’re free!’

‘I don’t know what happened, but somebody called my boss. He said, ‘Pack up your stuff, you can go.’ I thought I would go for one or two years, I never thought it would be 10 years…’

And if you thought Balbir was another one of the guys on the team, you are wrong. A 1998 article from Atlas F1, now Autosport, discusses Michael’s dedication. Titled “The loneliness of a long distance driver” the article has an important paragraph about how close Balbir was to the F1 super star.

He (Schumacher) sleeps there in the most modest surroundings - a bed, a sofa, a chest of drawers and a sports-bag with very few clothes. The only human companionship he has is his physio-therapist Balbir Singh, sleeping next door. They share a toilet and a shower, but hardly share a conversation; Schumacher is seldom alone, but often very lonely.

And then I had to go looking for what Michael thought about Balbir leaving, and thanks to google I did.

Balbir is one of the few men that I could and can trust 150 percent,” the seven times champion told Germany’s Bild newspaper on Thursday.

“The split will hurt me. I will miss him. I must simply accept that he wants to build a new future,” added Schumacher, 36, who insisted earlier this week that he was not thinking of quitting despite his poor start to the season.

The Ferrari driver’s spokeswoman said the two would remain close friends.

“He is one of the closest people to Michael,” she said. “It’s been 10 years now and at one point he just said I have to care about my family more.”

Dubbed Schumacher’s ‘wonder-guru’ by Bild, Singh’s behind-the-scenes role has been far more than massaging away the aches and pains of racing. He also keeps an eye on what the driver eats, calms him down and acts as a confidant.

“He has something in his hands that no-one else has,” said Schumacher, a distant eighth in the championship with just 16 points after seven races.

So it’s no wonder that when Balbir, who spent his time off working with Dakar rally, had a special visitor at the Force India motor home.

To think that one of the greatest drivers ever, had an Indian by his side at the peak of his career sends chills down my spine. I just wish I were more attentive when the champ was still racing.

Who is Balbir Singh? In search of Schumis ex Guru. - Über Desi