WHEN NARAIN Karthikeyan had made his debut in Formula One, many of his detractors in India had thought his first step in the game had little significance to the Indians. After all, Formula One is not an Indian sport. There are no circuits in India and motor racing had not even really taken off. It was not until 1989 that India got a full-fledged racing track near Chennai, a 3.75-km course certified to stage just the F3 races. And the plans of getting a F1 circuit in India seemed like a distant dream.

To be honest, Karthikeyan didn’t really set the track on fire in the 2005 season. His best being a fourth place finish in the Indianapolis Grand Prix, which had only six drivers running when Michelin drivers had decided to opt out of the race. The result of a mediocre season was that Karthikeyan did not feature in any of the teams in the next two seasons. But all it may change after his first place finish at the Zhuhai International circuit in China on Sunday.

It couldn’t have come at a better time for Narain and for India also. This season in A1 had been a poor one till the scene shifted to China. But what worked for Narain in this race was sheer strategy and teamwork. Starting from third on the grid, Narian went past the New Zealand driver at the second round of pit stops. Both New Zealand’s Jonny Reid and the South African Adrian Zaugg had pit stop problems, which lost a lot of time.

Even Narain gave the credit of the win to the team. He said, “The team has been working really hard at pit stop practices and they’ve done a really good job this weekend. We had excellent pit stops that really paid off and contributed to our victory. This shows that what really counts is great team work.”

India’s maiden A1 GP victory means a lot to this team. The team that had been written off since the beginning of the season fought back to win an all-important GP. Narain’s flawless performance and some great teamwork by the pit crew have brought this glory. The first time ever, we heard the Indian National Anthem being played for the winner standing at the podium, a proud moment for all Indian sport lovers.

This augurs well for Indian motor racing. With a proposed circuit coming up in India and Vijay Mallya set to take Formula One by storm next season, India has well and truly arrived in this sport. Narain will be looking forward to another stint as a F1 driver next season. For now, this is the time to enjoy the celebrations because such milestone moments don’t come often in Indian sports.