Karthikeyan vindicated by performance in India after finishing in 17th place

The Indian, making a one-off return to racing in place of regular HRT driver Tonio Liuzzi, crossed the finish line ahead of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo and also the Lotus of Jarno Trulli.

Karthikeyan admitted he was delighted with his performance and reckons he proved "a lot of points".

I had a great grand prix and I really enjoyed myself, it was an amazing experience," said Karthikeyan. "To finish 17th in my home grand prix is the best I could have wished for with the car we have and beating my team-mate and one Lotus on the way makes it all the more satisfying.

"It's a shame I faced the penalty and, perhaps, we could have had a much better race without it. But I made a good start and then suffered some damage to the front wing but afterwards I picked up a good rhythm and was able to complete a good race.

"It's an awesome feeling to have completed the first ever Indian Grand Prix and to have been competitive with our main rivals which proved a lot of points."

Ricciardo finished in 18th position, the Australian saying the handling of his car changed during the second part of the race, making it hard for him to keep his early pace.

"The first laps weren't great but then I managed to pass a few people," he said. "Some laps later I got past Narain and set a good rhythm; I was happy with the first stint as everything was going well, the balance was good and the tyres were performing well.

"In the second stint I felt a strange feeling in the front of the car after a couple of laps, the car was moving quite a bit from left to right, I still don't know the reason for this but it might have been a puncture.

"It's a shame because as a cause we had to do an extra pit stop and lost quite a bit of time with that. In the third stint, once we found our pace we were quite competitive. It ruined the rhythm of our race but hopefully we can avoid it from happening next time."