F1: In praise of Karun Chandhok

There are some F1 drivers, who would not only be a bit put out if they were ejected from their car in the way that Hispania Racing's Karun Chandhok has been but would not have hidden their fury from the world. Toys, dummies, you name it, they would be flying.


Karun, however, has remained true to himself as the essence of politeness, courtesy and good humour. Rather than sulk this weekend when he's not racing, his Twitter feed this morning shows that he's using the chance to increase his knowledge and become a better driver. These tweets show how:


cold and wet... going to spend today with my performance engineer Angel learning more about what goes on behind the scenes in a session


just try and absorb more info about what he sees on the data and relate it to what i would feel on track so we can work better in the future


This constructive attitude has spread into his taking part in Radio 5 Live's commentary. He was brilliant at it. It's not usual to find someone who has a geek's uberknowledge of literally every tiny fact about F1 but who manages to get it across in a very engaging manner. I'm sure if you asked him what Damon Hill had for breakfast on the morning of the British Grand Prix in 1994, he'd be able to tell you.


BBC Pitlane supremo Ted Kravitz challenged him to name the time that all 3 drivers qualified with at Jerez in 1997 and Karun it without flinching, ensuring Ted had to donate £50 to charity.


We've seen his "keep calm and carry on" attitude from the start of his F1 career. Most drivers get to become acquainted with their cars on several pre season testing days. For Karun, his car wasn't ready until the qualifying session at Bahrain. So, the first time he drove it was in the heat of that session - and the second time was in the race the next day.


I like Karun's attitude and am grateful to him for being such a good role model.


Hispania Racing would do well to reflect on the value of having a driver with such a healthy approach to life.