Narain will not change helmet
Midday — February 26, 2005

Narain Karthikeyan clarified yesterday that he would not be changing the tri-colour design on his crash-helmet as he had got no official word from the Indian government about the same. The first Indian to make it to the elite world of Formula One has been caught in the middle of a controversy after the home ministry told the Board of Control for Cricket in India that players could not use the flag on their apparel. Yesterday, the BCCI got a directive saying that the saffron, white and green theme could be used without the Ashoka Chakra.

But Karthikeyan insists he has only heard about this from the media. "Why should I change the design if I'm not officially asked to?" quipped Narain from Moscow, where the Jordan EJ15 was launched yesterday. The 28-year-old has time-and-again spoken about the pride in wearing the tricolour and asserted yesterday that the government should allow sportspersons to fly under the flag. Incidentally, British driver Jenson Button too had to redesign his helmet with the United Kingdom flag, but only because he could not copyright the design for merchandising purposes. But he uses the same colour scheme for his helmet as well has his products.