King rules India in front of F1 royalty

Having competed in the Formula Renault UK Championship, Formula Renault Northern European Cup and FIA Formula Two Championship in 2011, the Stoneleigh driver headed to the Buddh International Circuit at Greater Noida close to Delhi, preparing to test his mettle in yet another different series.

With the F1 support bill representing such a tremendous shop window for King to showcase his potential, the 17-year-old entered the meeting with equal measures of determination and trepidation.

“I think I put myself under quite a lot of pressure because I wanted to win so much to end the season on a real high,” said King. “The atmosphere was just amazing. There was a really big crowd there to watch the grand prix and a huge amount of media interest with it being the first F1 race in India.

“The journalists didn’t ask me a lot of questions ahead of the weekend, though. I don’t think anybody really expected me to be the quickest and I was quite happy to stay under the radar and then surprise them all.”

A frustrating qualifying session in his Team Sidvin car, which saw him hampered by traffic and a red flag, left him third and second on the grid for the weekend’s two races.

However, despite missing out on the pole positions he believed his raw speed deserved, King shrugged off the disappointment to claim second in the weekend’s opening race.

Pole-sitter Nick Percat pulled away at the start, leaving King embroiled in a battle for second with his Formula Renault team-mate Alice Powell.

And by the time King made his move stick on Powell, former Australian Formula Ford champion Percat held an unassailable lead, leaving the Princethorpe College student content to claim a well-earned runners-up spot.

“I was happy enough with the result as it meant that if I won the following day, I would be champion no matter what,” said King.

In the second encounter, King rebuffed an early challenge from behind before switching his attention towards attacking Australian V8 Supercar star Percat for the lead.

After the pair had exchanged positions once, King dived to the inside and had the move made, but with Percat refusing to concede and squeezing him on to the kerb, contact was inevitable and it was the Australian who came off worse.

Albeit briefly slipping down to second after the coming together, King produced a neat manoeuvre to reclaim the lead and with it the $50,000 first prize.

“It was almost the perfect weekend all-in-all, and definitely the best possible way to end the season,” he added.

“It could barely have gone any better. Given the occasion and the fact that the opposition was of as high a standard as I’ve been facing all year, it was probably my best achievement in cars so far.”