With reports suggesting that India is on course to become the country with the world’s biggest population during 2023, drivers from the country continue to be few and far between in the upper tiers of motorsport.
That’s something especially seen when peering into the F1 history books.
To this point, only two drivers from India have ever made it to the pinnacle that is Formula One. Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok both represented their country on the track and combined for 59 race entries and five championship points between 2005 and 2011.
In 2024, another Indian driver is looking to make the step up to F1.
Who is Jehan Daruvala?
Born in Mumbai in 1998, Jehan Daruvala is an Indian racing driver who currently races for MP Motorsport in Formula 2.
Like many of his current competitors and many past and present Formula One drivers, Daruvala started karting from a young age. Unlike others however, he managed to gain substantial success both in his native India and abroad in the sport, winning the 2012 Asia-Pacific Championship and 2013 Super 1 National Championship titles before placing third in the 2014 Karting World Championship.
That saw Daruvala make the step up to the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 for two seasons before he gained a place in the Toyota Racing Series where he’d finish second in the championship to Lando Norris in 2016.
Such were his consistent performances throughout 2016 in particular, Daruvala was awarded with a seat in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship with Carlin in 2017.
His two-year stint with the team at that level produced eight podium finishes and included two race victories, one in Germany in 2017 with the other coming at Spa just under a year later.
2019 would then see Daruvala move onto the FIA Formula 3 Championship for a season, racing with Prema Racing as he battled at the top. Seven podium finishes and two race victories meant that the Indian driver ended that season in third spot in the championship and as such, his promotion to F2 was finally secured.
Jehan Daruvala career highlights and progression in F2
Now onto his fourth season in Formula Two, Daruvala is proving to be a big success at this level.
With 80 starts as of the 2023 Azerbaijan Feature Race, he’s taken 17 podiums during his time in the sport and has registered four race victories, taking the chequered flag in Bahrain, the UAE and at Monza on two separate occasions.
A double podium weekend for India’s @DaruvalaJehan at the Jeddah Street Circuit! 💫#SaudiArabianGP #F2 pic.twitter.com/on065rQAu4
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) March 20, 2023
That second victory on Italian soil was arguably his best to date.
Starting P6 on the grid for the race, Daruvala avoided multiple collisions and kept a cool head throughout to put together an exemplary race and claim the chequered flag by 1.970 seconds to the driver in P2.
2023 has been an up-and-down season to date but the Indian driver’s two P3 finishes during both the sprint and feature races in Jeddah on raceday two further highlight both his ability and skillset which F1 scouts will be constantly scrutinising.
His ascent in F2 has also seen him become the reserve driver for Formula E team Mahindra Racing in 2023.
MORE: 2023 Formula 2 season: Schedule, drivers, teams and latest F2 results
Will Jehan Daruvala get to F1?
In short, it’s still up in the air whether we’ll see Daruvala take the step up into the pinnacle of motor racing in the future.
The Mumbai native is already into his fourth season of F2 racing as mentioned before, racing for two separate teams along the way which highlights his quality as a driver at this level as he remains a man in demand.
His finishes this season will be key to determining his future at the top level of motorsport however.
So far after four races in 2023, Daruvala has finished P17, P3 and P6 respectively during F2 feature races in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Australia, though he suffered a crash in Azerbaijan during the sprint race last time out. As a result, he started lower down the order for the subsequent feature race in which he finished P14.
Those results currently leave him sat in P6 in the drivers standings and he’ll be hoping to push up that leaderboard as the season wears on.
His work with Mahindra Racing in Formula E throughout 2023 will also further test his credentials and will add another string to his bow in terms of his racing skillset if he performs well in the role. It’s opportunities like those that can additionally help to further pave the way for F1 progression in the future.
How many Indian drivers have raced in F1?
Throughout the whole history of F1, only two drivers of Indian nationality have ever made the starting grid of a race.
Both of those careers came between 2005 and 2011 when Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok combined to make 59 race starts in the sport. Karthikeyan was the first Indian F1 race driver as he raced for the Jordan Grand Prix team before moving to Williams the following year.
Unfortunately for Chandhok, he never obtained a single World Championship point, though Karthikeyan did manage to pick up five during his F1 career. Those all came at the 2005 United States Grand Prix when he finished P4, however 14 fellow drivers didn’t even start that race due to a dispute with tyre manufacturer Michelin.
Chandhok has returned to the spotlight in the sport in recent years however, and now features on Sky Sports’ F1 coverage in the UK every race day, offering valuable insight on the drivers and tracks to fans.