Oil leak disturbs Karthikeyan

Narain Karthikeyan's Grand Prix weekend debut was hindered by an oil leak which saw him failing to set a competitive laptime in the opening practice session in Melbourne.

Karthikeyan, the first Indian to drive a Formula 1 car, returned to the garage with a smoking Toyota engine in his Jordan car after only six laps. He managed to do better in the second session, but he still finished down in 19th position.

The Indian admitted he now needed to calm down. "I lost a lot of time this morning because of an oil leak, so after that I have been pushing very hard," said Karthikeyan at the end of his first day of work. "Now I just need to calm down a bit because I was under pressure to perform."

Karthikeyan's team mate, Tiago Monteiro, also making his Grand Prix debut this weekend, was slowest in the second Jordan.

"It was my first contact on the track today," he said. "It was not very easy because I have to adapt myself to the bumpy conditions and work more on the set up to feel more comfortable in the car. It is the first day of acclimatisation but I am confident we are going to improve tomorrow."