Karthikeyan Still Keen for Seat

"I had a good Indian GP and the intention is to see what F1 opportunities are available." the driver told Reuters on the sidelines of a karting event in the Indian city of Bangalore. "I'm not dealing with it directly. There are people liaising on my behalf."

F1 comeback

He was the first Indian to drive in F1 is the only one to have scored points - with Jordan in 2005.

Karthikeyan made his F1 comeback with Hispania (HRT) in 2011 after five years out but had to stand aside from the 2011 British GP in July in favour of Red Bull-backed Australian rookie Daniel Ricciardo. He made a one-off race appearance for his inaugural home GP at the new Buddh circuit, replacing Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi, and finished 17th but ahead of Ricciardo.

Ricciardo has since moved on to Toro Rosso, Red Bull's sister team, with Spanish veteran Pedro de la Rosa the only driver confirmed by HRT.

The Spanish-based team's owners have also replaced Colin Kolles, who handed Karthikeyan's his drives at Jordan and HRT, as principal with former racer Luis Perez-Sala now in charge.

Perez-Sala said on Saturday that HRT were in advanced talks with several drivers but gave no details.

The only other team with a declared vacancy is Williams, for which Karthikeyan was a test driver in 2006 and 2007.