One of the fastest growing world economies, a technological superpower, one of the few nations in the world with nuclear weapons and artificial satellites are just some of the achievements of the country called India.

So why was the pinnacle of motorsport yet to get an Indian touch. When i started watching formula one, there was nothing Indian, except maybe some of the sponsors who also sold their stuff in India. But Narain Karthikeyan’s arrival on the motorsport scene changed it all. His sponsors JK Tyres promoted him well. He was christened the fastest Indian on the road(In the air are the Air Force pilots in their Sukhois and MIGs). Soon he was testing for F1 teams, his test in the Jaguar car made sports page headlines in India. Obviously there was only 1 more step to go to reach formula one.

His chance came later with the Jordan formula one team. But Jordan wanted Narain to pay for his seat instead of the other way round. At this time, Indian corporate houses like TATAs, Amaron, JK Tyres , Bharat Petroleum etc. supported Narain in his quest to become the first Indian F1 driver and he did become that.

But the season was dismal, he was impressive in the first half outclassing Tiago Monteiro many a times, but reports of a spat between him and team principal meant that he would need a new employer next year. He chose the Williams F1 team, who were offering him a seat as a test driver. And not only that he would be paid for it too unlike the arrangement with the Jordan team.

Then came Mr. Vijay Mallya, i really respect this man(even though i detest alcohol), he is the person most responsible for the current scenario. The man who knows Bernie Ecclestone (i think) wanted formula one in India and worked hard towards it. So much so, that its practically decided now that India will be hosting a F1 race in the near future, it can be as early as 2009 if the Indian Authorities hustle. Bernie Ecclestone has made it clear that F1 can no longer ignore India.

Not content with that, Dr. Vijay Mallya who is also an MP, has bid for the Spyker formula one team. He has bid alongwith the Mol family of Netherlands, he has expressed his desire to include the word ‘India’ in the team’s new name.

Finally India has arrived in formula one, and how !