With a future still unclear on whether he would don the role of a race driver, test driver or simply be confined to happy memories, Narain Karthikeyan was emotional on the penultimate day of the Formula One 2005 season. “It’s been a long run. Thoughts remain fresh in my mind as though it all began just yesterday,” he told The Sunday Express after qualifying 15th for the Chinese GP. While a majority of his sponsors in India have given him permission to proceed to whatever Narain decides next season, British daily The Guardian last week quoted a senior Jordan insider as saying: “Narain and Monteiro know the tariff and what we’d expect them to bring. We make no bones about our position.” That gives hope that Narain could still be in the F1paddock. Several motor racing websites list Narain as a possible test driver for Williams in their 'most likely line up's for 2006.' However, Narain has contenders for that role too and includes current tester Antonio Pizzonia and Nico Rosberg, the son of former 1982 world champion Keke Rosberg who have already made strong bids for the role of Friday tester. On the chances of making it to the Midland F1 (Jordan’s new name from November 2005) line-up he says: “It is still uncertain what will happen next year. We are still in talks, besides many changes are coming up next year. Let’s see what happens.” Saturday in Shanghai was special for Narain. Having positioned himself ahead of Jacques Villeneuve Takuma Sato, Christjian Albers and Robert Dornboos, Narain — for the second time this season — swung a statistic in his favour. It was the tenth time (see box) he out did teammate Tiago Monterio in qualifying. Earlier, at the Japanese GP, Narain won Jordan their best pole position of the season."One of my best runs in dry conditions," Narain said of the qualifying, and put Shanghai on a par with his Saturday run at San Marino where he finished 16th. Narain may also not be part of the 19 podium finishes Jordan have achieved he surely is one among the few who have contributed points.
