Chandhok hails race as one of best yet
Karun Chandhok may have run over a steering wheel and have his Monaco Grand Prix end with a car on top of him, but he labelled his afternoon as one of the best races of his life
The HRT driver was locked in a tight fight with the other new teams throughout the Monte Carlo event - but couldn't avoid trouble as he ran over Rubens Barrichello's errant steering wheel at one point before Jarno Trulli launched himself over the top of him after an over-optimistic move at Rascasse.
Despite the crazy afternoon, Chandhok was delighted with the speed he showed and the way most of his afternoon went.
"I think that was one of my best races," Chandhok told AUTOSPORT. "Bruno pitted early on and the team left me out, so I had to make 18 seconds on him - and I did six seconds in the first eight laps. I touched the wall five times - and they were like qualifying laps!
"After the pitstop, I was catching Bruno, but there was no point trying to pass him. Then Jarno tried something silly really. I don't think he would even have enough steering lock to get around the corner from the angle he was coming at - and he would have done the old 2006 parking move! He has apologised.
"He is not an idiot, I quite like him and he is a nice guy. I think when he apologises he know he has screwed up."
Although television footage appeared to show Trulli's car hitting Chandhok's helmet, the Indian claimed he avoided any car contact by ducking his head.
"Fortunately I was a bit lucky as I ducked and he went over my head," he said. "It didn't actually touch me and it looked worse than it actually was.
"But it was very frustrating because that was probably my best race of the year in terms of pace. We were racing the other two new teams and I was quicker than Bruno in the race, so it was a bad way to end."
Chandhok also revealed that he dragged Barrichello's errant steering wheel all the way down to the tunnel section of the track.
"It got lodged underneath the car, so I could feel it scraping all the way through Mirabeau. Then the noise stopped and one of the marshals reported back that it fell out of my car in the tunnel. But then Bruno ran over it - so that steering wheel has been well and truly Hispania'd!"
Share Or Save This Story
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Jon Noble: An unfair perception or a genuine concern? Lifting the lid on Red Bull’s Tsunoda scepticism
LIVE: F1 Hungarian GP updates - Verstappen fastest as Aston Martin runs massive upgrade package
Malaysia weighs up F1 2026 round as rescheduled Bahrain GP plan fades
Aston Martin's heavily updated AMR26 breaks cover in Hungary pitlane
‘If you're not ready to adapt, you're not good enough’ - Norris addresses changing driving styles in F1 2026
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments