Flying returns

Karthikeyan bounces back during practice at Grand Prix.

It is celebration time this year at the Albert Park circuit, as it is the tenth anniversary of the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne. The celebrations kicked off with fighter jets flying formations overhead.

Amid all the noise and excitement, there were parades of historic grand prix cars around the track, while a highly detailed exhibition of 100 years of the evolution of automobiles was on show.

The whole city has been decked up and the people of Melbourne are full of festive spirit "" in fact, they did not even allow me to purchase a tram ticket to get to Albert Park. It's all in the game!

Yet, in spite of all the song and dance, things can go wrong in Formula One. For Narain Karthikeyan, driving for the Jordan F1 team, it certainly did.

In the first session of practice today, almost everything went wrong for Narain "" he went too fast, exceeded pitlane speeds, got fined US $6,750 in the process, lost control of his car just so slightly, and to top it all, an oil seal of his engine also blew.

So instead of completing maybe 25 laps or more of the track, Narain could finish only six before his engine let him down. 1:38.175 was all he could manage in the first timed session of practice, while Red Bull's V Liuzzi was the fastest, with a timing of 1:25.967.

Narain consequently was placed last, but he would be going back to the track for the second session in the afternoon after lunch. What would happen? I managed to meet up with him during lunch time. He looked perfectly calm and collected, and even had chicken for lunch. He also autographed his Jordan cap and handed it over to me. Narain's family - his parents and his wife - were with him.

In fact, it's the first time Narain's mother has come to watch him race after his Formula Maruti days many years ago. Though his family was visibly tense, he'd told them not to pray for him and that this was his job after all. Narain's wife, Pavarna, put up a brave face, trying to sound confident, even though there were tremors in her voice. It was now time for the second session.

This time around, Narain did everything right. He completed 29 laps, like a proper new F1 driver. He clocked 1:28.168, shaving off a whopping ten seconds off his first session's timing - this is not normal in F1!

With this new timing, he has placed 19th for the day, but of course, there are two qualifying sessions, on Saturday and Sunday, to go. Just three seconds separate Narain and Pedro de la Rosa - the McLaren driver - who managed 1:25.376, posting the best time in the second session.

By completing 29 laps, Narain is quicker than Jordan's own test driver R Doornbos and his Portuguese team-mate Tiago Monteiro, who's a full second behind. His achievement is even remarkable considering he's driving on Bridgestones, while the top three drivers were using Michelins.

Michael Schumacher, quicker than Narain by less than two seconds, was fourth fastest and remember, Bridgestone's focus is entirely on the world champion.

At the media room, during the first session, the atmosphere was almost condescending towards Narain. It was as if the veteran motorsport journalists couldn't believe somebody from India could actually drive in F1.

The joke that went around was that Indians could do well only at the Indianapolis circuit in the US because it did not have any corners. But this was before the second session, after which Narain well and truly silenced them by improving on his first timing by a full ten seconds.

In the pitlane, I met Ken Kawakita, a Japanese motorsport journalist who's been following Narain since his Formula 3 days. Kawakita told me that Narain is not an unknown quantity. He was suitably impressed by Karthikeyan's efforts and should be taken seriously.

Romit Chatterji, Tata Services vice president-corporate affairs, representing Tata Racing - one of Narain's main sponsors - gifted Narain a plaque wishing him well for his F1 debut. He said that Indians have traditionally done well in sport. Now, with Narain in F1, it was the last frontier left for Indians to conquer. Amen to that.