Karun Chandhok

Chandhok's father, Vicky Chandhok, is a multiple-time Indian rallying champion and has been president of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India since 2003; his father is of Punjabi descent and his mother is Tamil Brahmin. His younger brother Suhail Chandhok is a sports commentator with Star Sports India.

In 2000, Chandhok was Indian National Racing Champion, winning seven of ten races in the Formula Maruti series and taking pole position and fastest lap at all ten rounds. In 2001 he became the Formula 2000 Asia champion driving for Team India Racing, becoming the youngest Asian Formula Champion to that point. He tested with Carlin Motorsport in British Formula 3 that year. He raced in the British Formula 3 National class with T-Sport in 2002 (sixth in class) and 2003 (third in class, behind champion Ernesto Viso and runner-up Steven Kane), then stepped up to the main class in 2004 and finished 14th. He partnered compatriot Narain Karthikeyan at RC Motorsport in the World Series by Nissan for the final two rounds of the 2004 season. In 2005 he raced part-season in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series with RC Motorsport. He was also the first driver to represent A1 Team India in the A1 Grand Prix at the start of the 2005–06 season before handing over to Armaan Ebrahim. In 2006, Chandhok won the inaugural Formula Asia V6 by Renault Championship with seven race wins and nine pole positions from twelve races.

Chandhok moved to the GP2 Series in 2007 with Durango. His first GP2 win came in the sprint race at Spa-Francorchamps. He also led the sprint race in Turkey from pole before being collected by second-placed Kazuki Nakajima of DAMS, who was given a drive-through penalty. In November 2007 Chandhok received a two-day test invitation from Red Bull Racing at the Circuit de Catalunya.

For 2008 Chandhok switched to iSport International, partnered by Bruno Senna. He won one race, finished tenth in the championship, and received the series' "Best Driving Style" award. In November 2008 he became the first Indian driver invited to join the British Racing Drivers' Club. In 2009 Chandhok drove for Ocean Racing Technology, amassing ten points with a best result of third at Silverstone; he and teammate Álvaro Parente suffered sixteen retirements between them.

Chandhok began the 2010 Formula One season with Hispania Racing alongside Bruno Senna, becoming the second Indian driver in Formula One after Narain Karthikeyan. At the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix he was unable to complete a lap in any free practice session while the car was still being assembled, then suffered hydraulic problems; he qualified last, 1.7 seconds behind Senna, and crashed out of the race on the first lap after a large bump in the tarmac sent him into the wall. He recorded the team's first classified finish — fourteenth — in Australia, and finished 15th in Malaysia and 17th in China. He retired from the next three races with suspension failure in Spain, a collision with Jarno Trulli in Monaco, and technical problems in Turkey. He finished 18th in Canada and Valencia and 19th at Silverstone before being dropped for the German Grand Prix onwards in favour of Sakon Yamamoto.

On 22 March 2011, Chandhok was confirmed as a reserve driver at Team Lotus for the 2011 season. He drove in free practice at the Australian Grand Prix but crashed on the installation lap. After three further free practice sessions he replaced Jarno Trulli for the German Grand Prix, finishing 20th and last — two laps behind race winner Lewis Hamilton, a lap behind 19th-placed Daniel Ricciardo, and two laps behind teammate Heikki Kovalainen. Team Lotus released him after the Japanese Grand Prix, ruling out participation in his home Grand Prix in India three weeks later; a financial settlement with team principal Tony Fernandes was reached but not completed until April 2013.

In 2012, Chandhok drove in the FIA World Endurance Championship for JRM Racing in a Honda Performance Development ARX-03a, co-driving with David Brabham and Peter Dumbreck; the team finished sixth overall at the Le Mans 24 Hours from 56 starters. In 2013 he drove in the FIA GT Series for Seyffarth Racing in a last-minute deal, joined in the car by Jan Seyffarth; Armaan Ebrahim was also in the series that year as the first confirmed Indian driver. In 2014–15, Chandhok drove the inaugural Formula E season for Mahindra Racing.

Chandhok has worked for the BBC, Channel 4, and Sky Sports as part of their Formula One coverage, and appeared on Channel 5's programme Fifth Gear as a presenter and reporter. Since 2021 he has served on the Board of Directors of Motorsport UK, where he is also a member of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee. He is additionally a member of the FIA Drivers' Commission.

This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.