JANUARY 26, 2006

Karthikeyan at Williams?

India's respected Business Standard financial newspaper is reporting that Narain Karthikeyan has signed a deal to become the Williams F1 team's second test driver. The Indian, who drove for Jordan last year, tested with Williams in December and has some sponsorship which would ease his path into the second test driver role at Williams. The 28-year-old Chennai driver has been looking for work in F1 since it became clear that he would not be staying on at MF1 Racing (the revamped Jordan team). Last year Karthikeyan had the backing of seven Indian companies including the Tata Group, JK Tyres, Bharat Petroleum, Amron batteries, Reebok, JCB and Raymond. Not all of these could be involved in a Williams deal but there is thought to be enough money involved to give Narain a chance to keep his F1 career going.