New Delhi: Hispania Racing driver Narain Karthikeyan isn't too amused with Felipe Massa after the Canadian GP. Shifting the blame on the Indian driver for losing control of his car and places, the Massa said he was angry at Narain as his chances of finishing on the podium evaporated while trying to pass the Indian driver.
"I don't know what he is talking about," Karthikeyan, who sounded agitated, told ibnlive.com on the phone from Montreal after the race.
Massa, who finished sixth in the chaotic race, said, "He (Narain) was going very slowly on the dry line but then, as I was passing him on the wet, he accelerated and I lost control of the car ending up in the wall. Thanks to the next Safety Car, I was able to catch up to the pack and then, in the end, I passed a few cars to get as high as sixth. I am angry, there is no point denying it."
However, it was clear that Narain was not involved in any way and that Massa himself was to be blamed for messing up while passing the HRT car.
Despite a creditable performance, Narain's race ended on a bitter note as he was slapped a post-race penalty that resulted in him finishing in 17th place instead of 14th.
Narain didn't sound happy with the team tactics too. He encountered a strange pitstop call from his team that resulted in him losing number of places. "I had passed Tonio (Liuzzi) with the intermediates and didn't expect to be called in to the pits to be changed to slick tyres. I wanted to stay out for a lap or two on the same set of tyres. However, for whatever reason, the team called me in, put on slicks (he was not told about the change from intermediates to slicks) and from there, I got involved in blue flags situation and lost a few positions," Karthikeyan said.
The Indian driver though was happy with his performance. "I did everything right. I managed to overtake Virgin cars as well as Tonio. Today's performance was reminiscent of 2005," he said, referring to his debut year in Formula One with Jordan.
Karthikeyan added that the car has been showing consistent improvement over the past few races. "This race we had the blown diffuser, we are expecting more upgrades in the coming races. Our target is now to compete with Team Lotus," he said, adding that the car will undergo wind tunnel tests for further aerodynamic improvement.
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