Karun Chandhok has had a lot of team-mates in his eclectic career, but one name stands out when it comes to choosing his favourite. Bruno Senna immediately comes to mind for the Indian and not just because the duo ended up as colleagues in GP2, Formula 1 and Formula E.
“From the first GP2 test we did together at Jerez [in 2007], we just got on really well,” says the Sky F1 pundit, who raced alongside Ayrton Senna’s nephew at iSport in the 2008 GP2 Asia series as a prelude to contesting the regular season. “Of course, we wanted to beat each other, but we were very open.
“It was a really enjoyable year. We’d arrive at a race weekend and we’d start with two different programmes, compare data and it was all very open sharing information.
“It was funny because I was always very open about the fact that Alain Prost was my childhood hero and I became really good friends with all of Bruno’s family.”
Senna won that first contest in Asia, finishing fifth in the standings to Chandhok’s 13th. Both finished on the podium at Monaco and Hockenheim, as Senna finished runner-up in the regular season to Giorgio Pantano. But the next time they teamed up they faced much bigger challenges. Chandhok joined Senna at the troubled HRT operation which took over Adrian Campos's entry as they both stepped up to F1 in 2010, Chandhok directly from GP2 and Senna after a year in sportscars racing for ORECA.
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“We were in this rollercoaster of chaos together,” says Chandhok. “We were a very close unit, with his manager Chris Goodwin, my father and Bruno’s sister Bianca.
“So many days it felt like the five of us trying to push the team forward and trying to find where the whole project was going.”
Source: Autosport