The F1 team who admitted their car was unfit for purpose after Karun Chandhok couldn’t match GP2 drivers

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Karun Chandhok was the final driver to secure a spot on the 2010 Formula 1 grid. He joined the newly-formed Hispania team to fill the 24th cockpit.

After impressing in Asia, Chandhok earned a place in GP2 for the 2007 season. He would spend three seasons in the category, winning two races and scoring five podiums.

HRT made him just the second Indian driver in F1 history after Narain Karthikeyan, who raced for Jordan in 2005. They were one of three debutants in the 2010 field.

Virgin Racing (later Marussia and Manor) joined them, as did Team Lotus (later Caterham). Toyota had left the sport at the end of 2009.

Chandhok would make it to round 10 of 19, with Sakon Yamamoto replacing him for the German Grand Prix. He made one final appearance a year later in Lotus’ colours.

Karun Chandhok was outpaced by GP2 drivers in his HRT at 2010 Monaco Grand Prix

Chandhok arrived at the Monaco GP, the sixth race in the 2010 calendar, after a somewhat farcical DNF in Spain. He made contact with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa after he was shown blue flags, and a further collision with Jaime Alguersuari cost him his front wing.

The two HRT cars were slowest of all in the opening practice session at Monte Carlo, with Bruno Senna 23rd and Chandhok 24th. The latter’s time of 1:21.853 was just under six seconds off the pace set by Fernando Alonso.

And alarmingly, six GP2 drivers were faster in the corresponding session. The list included future F1 drivers Pastor Maldonado, Sergio Perez and Giedo van der Garde.

Chandhok found 1.5 seconds in FP2 and dipped well under the 1:20 mark during qualifying. But it was hard to escape the ignominy of Thursday’s practice.

A dramatic tangle with Jarno Trulli ended Chandhok’s race on Sunday, though he was still classified 14th. Before the next race in Canada, HRT announced that they were splitting with chassis suppliers Dallara.

“Fundamentally I’m disappointed at the level of engineering in the car and I don’t think it reflects current F1 practice by quite some margin,” technical consultant Geoff Willis said. “It’s missing a lot of tricks that would be taken for granted by anybody in the pit lane now.”

Karun Chandhok ‘hated’ one aspect of the Monaco Grand Prix

Chandhok’s teammate Senna said HRT ‘destroyed’ his confidence. The performance of the car was so random that it left drivers unsure when they were at fault.

The Spanish squad struggled at the back of the grid for three seasons. They would then drop out of F1 at the end of 2012.

Despite his 2010 woes, Chandhok’s verdict on the Monaco GP was mixed. He loved the ‘challenge’, but he ‘hated’ the party atmosphere around the race.