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Should Force India go native?

		
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There was a lot of debate at the start of the season about whether Force India should employ an Indian driver. Tony Teixiera, boss of A1GP, says yes. John Beamer says no (again).


Before we dive into this let's get one thing straight: Tony Teixiera has some serious self interest at stake.


By being boss of A1GP Tony espouses the nationalistic sales pitch. For those who have never seen an A1 race the cars represent countries — the idea being that fans naturally gravitate to their country! To reinforce this nationalistic fervour the driver should be from the same country too.


Hence when an F1 team names itself Force India, Tony naturally wants them to fill the seat with an Indian driver. This is what he has to say:


The Force India thing, although great for India, is a little bit negative in terms of youngsters and getting them to race if you are never going to win a race," said Teixeira.


It's the wrong message. I think (Force India owner) Vijay (Mallya) is trying to set something up which is a long-term plan but it's not the right message having Force India and non-Indian drivers.


What do you reckon?


Let's get one thing straight. If there was a decent Indian driver on the market I firmly believe that Vijay would stick him in the cockpit. 


The only potential option is Narain Karthikeyan. The problem is that he isn't particularly good. He struggled badly with Jordan and never set the world alight as a test driver.


So should Force India go with an Indian driver just for the sake of it? 


Of course not. Given Force India's development curve the most important thing they can do is develop the car. Experienced drivers help, which is why Fisi still finds himself with a race seat. 


That aside the team should (and will) invest in Indian driver academies. Perhaps by the time the Indian Grand Prix shows up on the roster someone from the sub-continent will be a pilot — although that feels too early.


Sticking Narain in the car just because of his nationality does no one any favours — not F1; not Force India; and not the driver himself. 


No wonder Tony has decided not to by an F1 team — if this ruse is his big idea he'll be alongside the Super Aguris at the back of the grid.


  

	
     By John Beamer last updated on 02/05/08
		

		
  	 




 









      1. By sroy on 01/05/08
  
  
  
    
Some of the nationalities of


    

      
Some of the nationalities of the drivers in A1GP are to say the least tenuous.


Force India need to do a lot of things to move the team forward and picking racing drivers by nationality is about as effective as picking mechanics by shoe size or picking a technical director by the size of his ears.  The important thing for Force India is to progress as a team and to represent India as a team.


Ferrari are effectively team Italy.  I don't remember Texeira or anyone else saying that they were somehow failing because Schumacher was German.  Enzo Ferrari hated having Italian drivers in the team and his policy was specifically to avoid them.


If Force India one day win the world championship with a Peruvian or Lebanese driver they will still have been seen to achieve something for India.


I think they will probably have Karun Chandhok as a test driver in the near future and I think there is more chance he will race for them than Karthikeyan.  For Narain it is simply a case of bad timing.  Had the team come into existence 5 years earlier when his stock was much higher he would definitely have been offered some kind of drive.  Now he is perceived as a failed GP driver he has no chance unles he can find a huge sponsor.


The only difference between FIF1 and a few other teams is that they have the country as part of their name.  Renault have always tried to potray themselves as the French national team and Honda and Toyota have tried to prove that they can succeed using Japanese methods.  None of these teams employ a driver of the appropriate nationality.

    


      

  







      2. By michael on 01/05/08
  
  
  
    
Nationalities


    

      
to be honest, this hole nationality ruse sucks and does so big time. we have 22 drivers five of which are German is that correct? I believe four of which are English/British is that correct?? that's nine out of twenty two drivers. Berger the brat kicked out Scott Speed, so no American, no Chinese, no African, no Russian, and the list goes on and on. heh, but we've got endless supply of Finish, German, British and Brazilian champions.  AND now we have to go through ex-champions kid revival with, Piquet and Rosberg soon Scheckter Mansell and yes Schumacher III and IV.  so if an iniad driver stumps up he or she will have to enter as a force much as Hamilton did, otherwise they're dead meat.   

    


      

  







      3. By Marc on 01/05/08
  
  
  
    
Agreed, to say the least


    

      
"Some of the nationalities of the drivers in A1GP are to say the least tenuous."


Tenuous isn't the word when you consider Rahal the younger was the driver for A1 Team Lebanon and Doubt if the kid ever set foot in the country.

    


      

  







      4. By pdown on 04/05/08
  
  
  
    
Karthikeyan just isn't quite


    

      
Karthikeyan just isn't quite up to the job.  A decent single seater driver, but not an F1 driver.  Can't help thinking Chandhok will ultimately turn out to be same, though its early days yet.  If he doesn't run near the front in an ISport GP2 car, though, then he ain't going to be an F1 driver of any note.