It’s been a while since David Coulthard has been seen in a Formula One car, having spent all of this season as a consultant with the Red Bull racing team. On Sunday, he will take his team’s car out for a spin on the Bandra-Worli Sealink, and while he is excited by the prospect, the driver refused to talk up the viability of an Indian Grand Prix.

India hopes to hold the first Indian Grand Prix in 2011, and construction work has started in Gurgaon despite the government making it clear that no subsidies would be provided.

Pointing at the costs of hosting an F1 race, Coulthard said that nothing comes for free these days. “When you go to watch a cricket match don’t you have to pay for a ticket?” asked the Scotsman when asked about the investments involved. “Formula One is an expensive sport, and you are not even going to get returns from ticket sales.”

However, the winner of 13 Grand Prix said interest in the sport could only grow with Force India’s presence on the grid. “Force India is improving very fast as their performance in the Belgian and Italian Grand Prix showed. They made an impact late this year but with a strong McLaren-based technical back up, they can do much better in the future,” he said.

Coulthard said it would have helped if some Indian driver would be driving the Force India car, but the country lacks on this front. “I have seen Narain (Karthikeyan) but he is not quite up to the mark. I have heard a lot about Karun Chandhok but he is driving in Moto GP2 and I think it’s not easy to say whether he would be as effective in the higher standards of Formula One,” he observed.

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