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The son of a former Indian rally champion, in 1992 Karthikeyan, was sent to the famous ELF Winfield Racing School in France, which includes Alain Prost amongst its former pupils.
A couple of years later Narain became the first Indian to win the Formula Asia championship.
In 1994 he contested Formula Ford Zetec, moving on to Formula Ford the following year. The youngster made history by winning the British Formula Ford Winter series, in addition to making it to the podium for the support race to the Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril.
For 1997, the twenty-year-old headed to the UK to contest the British Formula Opel Championship. One of several strong performances saw him lead the Donington round from flag to flag.
In 1998 he stepped up to Formula Three, his best results being third at Spa Francorchamps and Silverstone, two of the fastest tracks on the calendar, which in turn led to him being called the 'fastest Indian in the world'.
He remained in British F3 in 1999, finishing sixth in the championship courtesy of five podiums, which included two wins at Brands Hatch.
In 2000 he finished fourth in the British F3 championship in addition to winning the prestigious International F3 race at Spa a feat previously achieved by his hero, Ayrton Senna, in addition to Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard. He also won the Korea F3 Super Prix.
In 2001, Narain tested for both Jaguar and Jordan, both tests taking place at Silverstone. Jordan was so impressed that it invited the Indian back for a second run at Mugello.
In addition to his F1 tests, Narain also contested the Formula Nippon Championship.
In 2002, he was one of the fastest drivers in the highly competitive Telefonica World Series, claiming one pole position and posting the fastest ever (non F1) lap time at Interlagos.
In 2003, following a test with Minardi, Narain was offered a race seat, but was unable to provide the required funding. Instead he contested the Super Fund World Series, finishing fourth in the championship with 5 podium finishes.
In 2004 he contested the Nissan World Series, winning two rounds.
The funding problems that kept him out of the Minardi drive in 2003 were resolved for 2005, and with a number of blue-chip Indian corporations on-board Narain was able to obtain a race seat with Jordan, which had now been bought by the Russian-owned Midland Group.
We wrote at the start of the 2005 season that it would be a 'baptism of fire' for the Indian, and so it turned out to be.
Although there is no doubting his pace, Narain, certainly in 2005, tended to overdrive the car, and all to often this resulted in tears. That said, the (pitch) sensitivity of the EJ15 didn't help.
In the wet practice session, admittedly helped by his Bridgestones, Narain was only bettered by Michael Schumacher, while at Imola he set the twelfth fastest lap of the race.
As any Brazilian racer will tell you, carrying the hopes of your nation - especially as you will inevitably be compared to Senna - is a massive burden, and there were times that Narain appeared to crack under the pressure of representing his country.
Yes there were mistakes, silly mistakes, but there were also moments of great talent.
It has been said that F1 needs Narain because it needs India. Sorry, but in our humble opinion a driver should be in F1 on merit not because of his nationality, and that applies to all drivers of all nationalities.
For a while it looked as though the Indian would be missing from the 2006 paddock as the drive and test drive vacancies were gradually filled. However, there was talk that WilliamsF1 - according to some sources, strapped for cash - might offer some hope, having tested the youngster at Jerez in December.
That appeared to be dashed in early January, when, in a shock move, the Grove outfit announced that it had recruited the highly-talented Alex Wurz from McLaren, sending out a clear message that money wasn't a problem and that - contrary to what sceptics believed - there was life after BMW.
Then, just hours before the launch of its 2006 contender, the FW28, WilliamsF1 announced that Narain had been signed as its second test driver.
"Narain's brief period in the car in December, during which he provided valuable feedback, made a very distinct impression on our engineers," said Frank Williams. "Having a year's GP racing and testing to his credit is also advantageous for us."
At the time, a press release, issued hours after Narain's signing, in which a major sponsorship deal with Indian conglomerate Tata was announced, naturally prompted talk that money was the main influence in the British team's decision to sign the Narain. However, the fact that he was subsequently retained for 2007, with no apparent involvement from Tata, suggested that we were all being overly sceptical.
In 2006, Narain enjoyed twelve outings with Williams, however, in 2007 the Indian barely figured in the team's plans, taking part in just one test (Valencia) where he completed 60 laps. Instead, when a test driver was used, it was Kazuki Nakajima who was called into action, and it was the Japanese youngster who subsequently replaced Alex Wurz in the season finale.
When Vijay Mallya bought Spyker in late 2007, re-naming the former Jordan/Midland outfit Force India, it was widely assumed that Narain would be an obvious shoe-in as partner for Adrian Sutil, however, he didn't even get a test drive.
However, while his F1 career appears to have come to a standstill, Narain is flourishing in A1 GP following his debut at Taupo in January 2007, where he finished seventh in the Feature Race. In December 2007, at Zhuhai, fourth round of the 2007/2008 season, Narain gave India its first victory, taking a fine win in the Feature Race.
At 31, it appears that Narain's options, as far as F1 are concerned, are limited. However, A1 GP and plans for Le Mans should see the Indian entertain his many fans for years to come.
Statistics - Prior to 2008 Season
Drivers' Titles: 0
Seasons in F1: 1
Grand Prix: 19
Wins: 0
Points: 5
Poles: 0
Fastest Laps: 0
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