Well, last week’s comments by Vijay Mallya have outraged a lot of people in India, is the sport of formula one so shallow and money minded that anyone can come and buy a team with his overflowing millions and then comment upon drivers and other hard working people in F1.

People in Europe and Americas are probably unaware of the kind of outrage that Vijay Mallya’s comments have caused in India’s formula one fans.

I really admire Vijay Mallya, mainly for the fact that he has brought India on the world map in a large number of places, liquor being 1. But formula one is not one of them. Narain Karthikeyan was the Indian who had brought India to the world stage in formula one. His sponsors like JK Tyre and TATA were the ones who put India on the formula one map not Kingfisher, not Vijay Mallya.

Narain Karthikeyan became the first Indian driver in formula one, he was a test driver for Williams. Even in the defunct Jordans, he drove his heart out. Steve Slater and Chris Goodwin praised his guts and moves. The kind of aggression he showed in racing was praised by all. Michael Schumacher, Emerson Fittpaldi and Tiago Monteiro (his teammate) all praised his guts.

Then along came Mr. Mallya, bought over a defunct formula one outfit and named it after India. That was good, but his comments about Indian drivers was uncalled for. Karun Chandhok and Narain Karthikeyan are good drivers, better than if not as good as Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella. Both of them have WON races at every stage of racing they have competed in and are very much competitive when pitted against the best of drivers.

Mr. Mallya’s obsession with glamour and foreigners is not appreciated by this formula one fan. I would much rather have one of the Ambanis or the TATAs in formula one.