Weekend preview: F1, Maini, Karthikeyan

This Sunday’s British Grand Prix will bring Formula 1’s triple header to a close.

The legendary Silverstone Circuit is one of the drivers’ favourites and famous for its sequence of high speed corners, all of which put special demands on the car.

Both chassis strength and engine grunt will play a role, leaving an open fight between new championship leaders Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull.

While Mercedes is theoretically the favourite for the win after its recent engine and chassis upgrades delivered a significant boost, the German manufacturer must also get to the bottom of issues that led to a double retirement in Austria.

As far as Force India is concerned, the outfit would be looking for another strong result after a double points finish at Spielberg. With the Indian GP no longer on the calendar and Force India’s factory located right across the road at Silverstone, the British GP is effectively the squad’s home race.

Indian Formula 2 driver Arjun Maini will be eyeing a better result at Silverstone after his Austria weekend was wrecked by an ill-timed safety car.

Maini, despite not racing for a top outfit, clearly has the pace, as illustrated by his fifth place qualifying result at Spielberg. And having gotten a new engine fitted to his car, he’s free of problems that infamously plagued his Paul Ricard weekend.

The 20-year-old just needs to knit together a clean weekend to improve on his three fifth-place finishes.

Narain Karthikeyan (Super Formula, Fuji)

Narain Karthikeyan will be seen in action at the next round of Japanese Super Formula series at Fuji this weekend.

Progress made by Nakajima Racing in understanding the new soft tyre has allowed the outfit to emerge as a strong contender, with Karthikeyan finishing fifth in the previous round at Sugo.

With that breakthrough, Karthikeyan is now confident of scoring a podium for the first time since 2016.

After returning to winning ways in the Czech Republic, India’s NRT team would be aiming for the top spot once again in the Italian round of World Supersport Championship.

NRT has taken the WSBK-supporting category by storm this year and another victory by star rider Jules Cluzel could propel it to top of the teams’ standing.

This weekend will also mark the start of the 21st season of JK Tyre Racing Championship.

The series will once again comprise the flagship Euro JK category as well as the entry-level LGB class.

The JK Tyre-run series has always attracted top budding racing drivers from India and one can expect another high quality grid this time around.

In addition to the JK Tyre Racing Championship, Suzuki will also host its one-make championship concurrently at the Kari Motor Speedway.

National Motorcycle Championship, Chennai

The National Motorcycle Championship season will resume service at Chennai’s Madras Motor Race Track this weekend.

Country’s top riders will compete in one of the several national categories, while the Honda and TVS one-make series will feature up-and-coming riders who have been selected from programmes such as the Honda India Talent Hunt.