PTI

Chennai, Dec 17: Force India chairman Vijay Mallya on Tuesday made it clear that Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok does not figure in his scheme of things as his Formula One outfit is a 'professional' side and there is no point in having an Indian driver just for the heck of it.

"Narain Karthikeyan in my Formula One context does not fit in. It is simple. I have not confirmed anything about Karun (Chandhok) either. Karun is like my own son. I have not broken the rules of the team and announced anything in relation to Karun," Mallya said.

"The team is totally professional and run professionally. Whatever the team needs is going to be done. There is no compulsion to put an Indian driver for the sake of having an Indian driver," he said.

Mallya, however, said that he would launch a programme next year in the Indian soil to nurture raw talents.

"I would love to have an Indian driver and will be launching a compressive programme in 2009 to have identification. If we see youngsters with talent, Force India is going to pay all the way through to international karting to single seater racing into GP-2 format.

"We will first of all tie up with several go karting tracks in India, which has progressed significantly in our country and we do have really some good tracks in India. Using those tracks, we will import internationally recognised and acclaimed go karts and invite kids to drive," he said.