3 memorable moments that I cherish

At the end of 2006 however I couldn’t get enough sponsorship in place to take me back to Europe but in February 2007, Red Bull offered me a place on their young driver program and Bernie Ecclestone helped to do a last minute deal with the Durango team in GP2. Winning the GP2 race at Spa really cemented my place back in Europe – it was on the Sunday morning before the F1 race with packed stands and to have the Indian national anthem play out in front of all the F1 fans, teams and media for the first time ever was magical. 

My second one is of course getting to Bahrain in 2010 as a Formula 1 driver for the first time. It was the culmination of a dream – being able to sit on the same starting grid as people like Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton was just fantastic. I was never in awe of any of them or the occasion but I felt very lucky, blessed and proud to have made it to the top of my sport. Being in an exclusive club of 2 in 1.2 billion is pretty cool! Schumacher was one of the first people I met in the paddock on Thursday and his opening line was “welcome to F1” which was very nice indeed.

My final memorable moment has to be racing at Le Mans for the first time in 2012. Till today, I remain the first and only Indian to have done this great race and that’s something very special to me. Le Mans isn’t a race widely known in India but to give you an idea, you get more live spectators attending the race than Eden Gardens, Feroze Shah Kotla and Chepauk all combined! It is such an amazing track and event that goes on for 3 weeks culminating in the 24 hours itself. I had lots of my friends and family come to watch in 2012 along with several of the Indian media and it really was a big occasion.