A1 rolls in amid heavy fog

However, team manager Akbar Ebrahim later told this paper that the drivers had only been ‘‘nominated’’. And Chandok said he hadn’t yet been selected. ‘‘I will know only after the trials in France’’, he said; the trial is in August.

The other problem is that the A1 and various Formula seasons will overlap; a driver picked from any of the Formula series will miss about four A1 races. Will drivers be ready to leave the Formula races for the new series? Armaan has had a dazzling debut season in Formula BMW and the only way of building on that is by remaining in Formula.

Handling a bigger powered car would just become another handicap in the larger game. But Chandok seemed confident. “The world series car that I have ridden in is just a little less powerful than the proposed car, I am sure I will be able to handle it,” he said.

The A1 GP is a very unique concept and the same car to everyone does mean that it adds a sense of equality. But the basic questions that were present at the beginning is essentially still there, and that leaves the whole affair a little ambiguous.