19 April,2010 08:36 AM IST | | Dhananjay Khadilkar
It was something Formula One enthusiasts were worried about ufffd a two-tier championship in which the performance gap between the top and new teams would be so large that there would be a complete disconnect between them.
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Karun Chandhok, who finished 17th and last at the Chinese GP yesterday, admitted that is very much the case this year.
"It was not planned this way but it has turned out to be one," said Karun, while speaking to MiD DAY from Shanghai.
Karun, India's second driver in Formula One has been driving for Hispania Racing, one of the three new teams that have made their debut this year. Compared to the well-established and high budget teams, the rookies have been way off the pace. As a result, the target for Lotus, Virgin and HRT is to finish the race and beat the other new cars on the grid without giving too much thought to scoring points.
Aiming to finish
"Our target for the first four races was to finish and get as many miles as possible so as to provide information to our engineers," Karun remarked.
He also added that their target for this year was to beat the other new teams.
"We are competing with the other two new teams, Lotus and Virgin, who will get major upgrades for the Spanish Grand Prix in three weeks time. Hopefully, we will also be getting upgrades," Chandhok said.
Speaking about the season so far, Karun said that Malaysian Grand Prix was quite satisfying.
Despite bringing his car across the finish line at the Chinese GP, Karun said the race was frustrating.
"A combination of factors including my start from the pitlane and the safety car situation meant that I was
a lap down early on and it became messy from there on," he said.
