Karun Chandhok says he is confident that he’ll get more chances to race with Team Lotus in the future after making his debut last weekend.
The Indian driver, currently reserve for the Norfolk based outfit, was handed the opportunity to replace Jarno Trulli for the German Grand Prix.
He managed to qualify within a second of teammate Heikki Kovalainen, but couldn’t keep pace during the race and eventually finished over two laps behind the Finn.
That hasn’t dented his confidence though, and he remains positive about taking part in future races, but he admitted it was down to team owner and principal, Tony Fernandes.
“I believe I’ll get some more chances because Tony [Fernandes] seems quite happy with the job I did, the engineers seem happy with the job I did,” the 27-year-old is quoted as saying by Reuters.
Chandhok doesn’t have a firm date as to when he’ll get his next opportunity though, adding: “I think I have done enough to warrant another go but whether it’s this year or next year or the year after, we have to wait and see. That’s a complicated situation. It’s just a question of when it happens.”
He also believes he avoided embarrasing Fernandes for his decision to allow him to partake, even praising the Malaysian businessman’s bold move.
“I think Tony has shown this weekend that he’s not afraid to mix things up,” added Karun. “Obviously Sunday wasn’t that good but they [the team] were quite happy overall with how the weekend went. This weekend was about earning internal respect and not embarrassing Tony for his bold decision of sticking me in there. I think internal respect was earned and I don’t think I embarrassed him.”
