Narain Karthikeyan. Photo credit: HRT
Narain Karthikeyan has pinpointed an improved performance on Saturday afternoons as the Formula One season recommences in Belgium in a couple of weeks' time.
Karthikeyan has been beaten by HRT team mate Pedro de La Rosa in all eleven qualifying sessions so far and admits that he needs to up his game over one flying lap.
"I think that my race performance has been very strong, with my 15th place in Monaco standing out, but in qualifying I’ve been a bit weaker", said the Indian driver. "Right now I’m about three tenths behind Pedro and that’s something I have to improve in this second half, no doubt about it."
Karthikeyan also said that having De La Rosa as his team mate has been a useful experience.
"The tyres have been quite difficult to get used to and Pedro has a lot of experience with Pirelli and McLaren. He’s a very good driver who hardly makes mistakes and I must learn from him to improve."
Despite retiring from the most recent race in Hungary, Karthikeyan is upbeat about the HRT F112.
"We knew the car would be pretty basic but I’ve been surprised by its reliability and I think it has potential to improve."
Karthikeyan believes that not only should he be aiming to match his Spanish team mate, but also help his team to move ahead of Marussia in the Constructors Championship.
"From where we are now, it would be great to match and beat my teammate Pedro who has been a good benchmark. Added to that, if we finish ahead of Marussia in the championship standings that would be a successful season."
