Stragglers also important to F1 - Karthikeyan

There is a place in formula one for teams like HRT, the struggling team’s Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan has insisted.

Lures to potential new backers like ’This could be you’ aside, Karthikeyan’s sponsor Tata is the only significant logo on the livery of the F111.

Hispania had an horror start to its 2011 campaign and is still at the back of the grid, but team figures now believe they can soon be troubling the next target, Virgin.

And despite Bernie Ecclestone suggesting the sport would be better off without them, Karthikeyan insists that F1’s minor spat also brings value.

"The fact is we are never in contention for the title," he told the Hindustan Times. "But teams like these are equally important for F1.

"(Those teams) provide the platform for younger drivers and for drivers like me who are coming back. There’s this hierarchy in every sport, but it only makes it more interesting," added Karthikeyan.