‘Ideal way to break the jinx’

The frustration was even greater in the first half of the season — the GP2 Asia Series — where, out of four front-row starts, he managed to get on to the podium only once. “It was a complete mess, very frustrating few weeks. But I’m glad to see the back of that. The aim for the season when we started was to be in the top five. With Sunday’s result, we’ve moved into fifth position.”

But in a sport where, increasingly, the only comparisons that matter are those with your team mate, Chandhok doesn’t come off very well in his battle against his iSport compatriot Bruno Senna, who is placed second in the standings with 48 points, 22 more than the Indian. “Once again, it comes back to the Sundays,” Chandhok says. “We’ve been even in terms of speed. In fact I’ve had faster race traps than him most of the year. In qualifying, he’s had the edge. The thing is, those five Sunday races that I failed to get onto the scoreboard, he had been in the points all along.”

Having started to salvage the season — apart from Sunday’s win in Germany, he also had an impressive podium at Silverstone the week before that, where he stormed past the field in wet conditions — Chandhok has started looking ahead.

One of his big strengths has been the ability to chart his progress in bits and pieces. While getting into Formula One has always been his dream, he’s never felt the need to rush himself into anything. Now, at 24 years and having spent two seasons in GP2, he believes he’s finally ready to take the step up. “I’m trying hard to get into F1 next year, at least in a test driving role. We will be in discussions with some teams, including Red Bull and Toro Rosso, but it’s too early to say anything as the whole market for drivers is completely open.”