Narain Karthikeyan predicts a long innings for Fernando Alonso

Says Sebastian Vettel made the right call with respect to retirement from Formula one, as a driver tends to lose motivation when he moves to smaller teams

Narain Karthikeyan’s maiden season in Formula One, in 2005, saw Fernando Alonso eclipse Emerson Fittipaldi as the youngest ever World Drivers’ champion.

All these years later, Alonso is still going strong. Only a few days ago, the 41-year-old Alonso signed a multi-year contract with the Aston Martin F1 Team. 

Karthikeyan believes that the Spaniard has enough spark left to keep going for another decade. 

“Alonso has a lot of motivation left in him; he is beating drivers half his age. It is incredible. He has left Formula One to do a bunch of other things like IndyCar, but he has always returned strongly to Formula One. He hasn’t slowed down one bit. I don’t see Alonso going down for the next 10 years,” Karthikeyan said, at the launch event of Turtle Wax Car Care Studios here on Wednesday. 

On four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, who announced his retirement recently, Karthikeyan said. “There is no doubt that Vettel is a great driver. Vettel made the right call with respect to retirement, as a driver tends to lose motivation when he moves to smaller teams.”

It has been a decade since an Indian driver featured on the Formula One grid. Jehan Daruvala was tipped to be next in line, but an inconsistent show in the 2022 FIA Formula 2 Championship thus far has dented his chances of making the cut. After a bright start to the campaign, the Prema Racing driver has fallen to fifth in the driver standings.