Narain Karthikeyan has been give💯n permission to race in the Korean Grand Prix by stewards after the Indian driver had a brake issue during the first part of qualifying which prevented him from setting a lap time.

The stewards have al👍lowed him to race because of the lap tim🧜es he had posted in the three free practice sessions which were, at most times, faster than team-mate Pedro de la Rosa.

The🥃 35-year-old's right fr🌠ont brake split in half and he spun off into the run off area at turn three, causing yellow flags for a brief period at the start of the session. Although he avoided contact with the barriers, was unable to continue in the session.

"We were in quite a good position after the third free practice session as I'd adapted very well to the circuit and the car was p✃erforming great," he said.

"But once again, I was unlucky this season and we had a mechanical issue on the first lap of qualifying. Now we must analyse the problem to fix it and avoid it from sprinꦿging up again. Tomorrow we will try and recover 𓄧these positive vibes."

Although his team-mate finished twenty-third and somewhat slower than Marussia's Timo Glock, de la Rosa was happy with the job h🐓e had done, bꦗut team principal Luis Perez-Sala was disappointed with the gap to the other new Formula 1 teams and also voiced his disappointment on Karthikeyan's issue.

"Today wasn't one of our best days," he said. "In the morning's practice session we witnessed an improvement in the performance of the cars and the drivers finished 𒀰with better💮 sensations than yesterday.

"But in qualifying, things didn't go so well. Narain, on his first lap, suffered a brokenꦺ brake disc and was unable to go o꧑ut. Luckily both him and the car are well and now were investigating why this happened.

"Pedro completed a good lap but our rivals were much better. Tomorrow will be a l꧑ong race and the tyres and pitstops will play a key role so we will try to do the best job possible to make the most of an opportunity that may arise."

by Cameron Paterson