Indian rally racing champion Jeet Jhabakh has pointed to the prohibitive cost of Formula One — and the lack of adequate infrastructure and corporate backing — as the primary reasons why India remains largely absent from the sport's starting grid, despite possessing genuine driving talent.

Cost Barrier at the Core

Speaking in an interview, Jhabakh, who recently created history by winning the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC), was candid about the financial reality facing aspiring Indian F1 drivers. 'The amount of money that goes into it is phenomenal, and the amount of time that you have to put into it is absolutely crazy,' he said.

A modern F1 car is estimated to cost between ₹100 crore and ₹180 crore, and that is before accounting for the continuous research, development, and performance upgrades that teams invest in throughout a season. For drivers without wealthy sponsors or family backing, the ladder to the top tier of motorsport is effectively out of reach.

Chandhok and Karthikeyan: Pioneers Who Opened Doors

Jhabakh acknowledged that Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok — the only two Indians to have competed in a Formula One Grand Prix to date — fundamentally shifted the ambition ceiling for Indian motorsport enthusiasts. 'The fact that both Karun Chandhok and Narain Karthikeyan went to Formula One opened the doors for Indian motorsport, and a lot of youngsters felt that they could reach the top step because two of them have already done it,' Jhabakh said.

However, he added that many young drivers, including himself, underestimate just how expensive F1 is at the outset. Notably, Arvid Lindblad, the current Racing Bulls driver who is of Indian origin through his British-Indian mother and Punjabi maternal grandparents, was born in Surrey and races under the British flag — meaning he does not count as an Indian representative in the sport.

India's Junior Series: Competitive but Insufficient

Jhabakh highlighted the F4 Indian Championship as a positive domestic development, describing the junior series as 'competitive' and accessible to a wider pool of talent. The problem, he explained, begins the moment a driver attempts to go international. 'As soon as you go international, you realise that the money involved is so high — unless someone is backing you or you have your own backing, it's very tough to climb up the step consistently,' he said.

He also underscored the structural scarcity at the top: with only 22 seats available on the entire F1 grid at any given time, competition is global and fierce. 'Some of us might be extremely good too, but money becomes a little bit of a barrier over there, so if you don't have sponsorships, no matter how much time and effort you put in, it's a very, very slight chance that you'll be picked up by one of the teams,' Jhabakh noted.

Jhabakh's Historic FIA APRC Title

Jhabakh himself is a testament to what Indian motorsport can achieve when talent finds the right opportunity. Competing alongside co-driver Musa Sherif, he became the first member of an all-Indian driver-and-co-driver pair to win the FIA APRC crown — a feat made even more remarkable by the fact that he clinched the title in the two-wheel-drive (2WD) category, not the conventional four-wheel-drive (4WD) class. It was the first time in the championship's 38-year history that a 2WD driver had won the overall title.

'I've been in motorsport for a while, but rallying has hardly been two years for me; this is my third full year. We went international and it kind of clicked for us,' Jhabakh reflected. He described the win as something that 'raised the ceiling' for Indian motorsport overall, adding that he had not expected to reach this milestone so early in his rallying career.

What Needs to Change

For Jhabakh, the solution is straightforward in principle if difficult in execution: greater infrastructure investment and sustained commercial backing for promising young Indian drivers. 'Talent exists; we have a lot of great drivers over here; we just need the right infrastructure to push us up there,' he said. As Indian motorsport slowly builds momentum — driven in part by his own landmark achievement — the question of whether the country can close the gap to Formula One will depend heavily on whether sponsors and institutions step up to match the ambition.