In 2005 Narain Karthikeyan broke new ground when he drove in F1 with Jordan. After his exit Vijay Mallya gave us reason to cheer, with his racing team, Force India. Earlier this year Volkswagen announced their Polo Cup's entry in India. In a first for Indian motorsport, the winner will be awarded direct exposure on the European circuits and will be backed by VW.

It gets better. A few days ago Hispania Racing Team announced the signing of Karun Chandhok for the 2010 F1 season.     As a former racer and someone who has shared off-the-track experiences with Karun, I'm delighted. It's a well-earned reward for him and a great boost for Indian motorsport.

F1 has always been elitist. Aimed initially at European audiences, it took 50 years to come to Asia. But in the 2000s it has successfully tapped Malaysia, Bahrain, Singapore, even China, in its quest to become more accessible to large emerging markets -- and add to its TV viewership.

There has been talk of an Indian F1 GP since the late 1990s. In the early 2000s the Chennai-based motorsport community, film star Nagarjuna and the then Andhra Pradesh (AP) government attempted to bring F1 to Hyderabad. Then Chandrababu Naidu lost power, and that was the end of that.

But India is too lucrative to abandon. It's not surprising that Bernie Ecclestone, commercial rights owner of F1, has us firmly in his sights. The next attempt was hit by controversy. In August 2007 the Suresh Kalmadi-led Indian Olympic Association announced a letter of intent from Formula One Management to "promote and back" the Indian Grand Prix. In October that year F1 Management signed a Rs. 1,600 crore (16 billion rupees) contract with JPSK Sports to bring F1 to India. JPSK Sports's shareholding had Kalmadi DNA: 13% was owned by Sulba Realty, where Kalmadi's son, Sumeer Kalmadi is a director; Kalmadi's daughter and son-in-law joined JPSK Sports as directors a year later. This attempt too ran into legal and financial hurdles. The Ministry of Sport claimed F1 wasn't a sport, branded it "entertainment" and disallowed the international transfer of a large sum (for the F1 license fee). The matter was solved after the intervention of political powers that backed JPSK Sports.

And the provisional FIA F1 list for 2011 now has this entry: Indian Grand Prix, Gurgaon.

As F1 gears up for the Indian GP, Ecclestone's trump card is Karun Chandhok. The prospect of an Indian driver lining up on the grid of the Indian Grand Prix is a perfect way to Indianize a global motor racing product, attract new sponsors and guarantee new eyeballs, making Karun a very marketable driver. He's in the right place, at the right time.