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Force India to launch young driver academy

VALENCIA, Spain - Force India will set up a young driver academy to bring ‘an Indian Lewis Hamilton’ from karting to Formula One, team owner Vijay Mallya said on Friday.

India has had only two grand prix drivers, Narain Karthikeyan with Jordan in 2005 and Karun Chandhok this season with HRT.

Mallya said the world’s second most populous country should be able to produce a world-beater like McLaren’s Hamilton, who became the sport’s youngest champion at the age of 23 in 2008.

“I have got to start looking for somebody really young,” the billionaire told reporters at the European Grand Prix. “Amongst 1.2 billion people, there’s got to be a Lewis Hamilton somewhere.

“But it’s like trying to pick a needle from a haystack,” added Mallya, whose current F1 drivers are Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi and Germany’s Adrian Sutil.

“We are now going to launch a nationwide programme in India to identify young talent.

“This is a pretty complex exercise. It involves several karting tracks all over the country, a whole organised method of getting people to enter; a competitive environment and competitive programme.”

Mallya said Force India would then aim to take those with exceptional talent to Europe where their education and karting would be paid for.

“(We will) literally mentor them through until they can sit in a Formula One cockpit,” he explained. “We are absolutely committed to doing that.”

India is scheduled to host a grand prix in 2011 for the first time, with work well under way on a new circuit near New Delhi.

Mallya said he was now completely convinced that the race would happen after speaking to circuit designer Hermann Tilke.

“I bumped into him today when I was coming in to the paddock and he said everything is on track, we’ve seen pictures and there is some real progress.

“Now I can safely say that I am personally convinced that the track will be built, will be completed and there will be an inaugural grand prix next year.”