2. Narain Karthikeyan
He made history when he became the first Indian driver to race in the Formula One championship.
His appearance on the world's biggest racing arena came after three moderately successful years in the British F3 championship with Carlin Motorsport. In 2000 he finished fourth in the championship, leading to F1 tests with Jaguar and Jordan. Neither of these tests came to anything, and he was forced to hang around.
When the Midland Group took over the Jordan F1 team and appointed his F3 boss Trevor Carlin as team leader, Narain won a Jordan race seat.
Teams running on Michelin tyres did not compete in the US Grand Prix because of safety concerns and only three teams (six drivers). raced in the event. As luck would have it, Narain won plenty of points in his debut season when he finished fourth, behind his Jordan teammate Tiago Monteiro at Indianapolis.
