Did Team Lotus miss a trick by not announcing Karun Chandhok earlier?

Feel very sorry for Team Lotus reserve Karun Chandhok that he won't get to race in the inaugural Indian GP after all, especially after all the work he has done to promote the event and especially considering it was widely taken for granted when he signed at the start of the year that he would be racing in Delhi.

As Tony Fernandes said, Team Lotus were in a tricky position, with 10th place in the championship – which is worth a reported $33 million to their coffers rather than $10 million for 10th – still not assured. He went for the experience of Jarno Trulli.

“While all the emotional reasons for him [Chandhok] driving were right,” said Fernandes, "we were conscious that the limited running he has had in the car this season, largely due to the weather conditions that have hit most of his FP1 sessions, has not given him the best preparation for this race. So we have taken the very difficult decision not to run him in this weekend.”

It may have been a pragmatic decision – and I'm sure Fernandes does feel bad about it – but I can't help but feel that the team missed a trick here. I'm no sponsorship expert but surely if Lotus had confirmed Chandhok for India months ago, they could have picked up additional sponsors and made it work financially? By leaving it so late to make a decision, perhaps sponsors were unsure or unwilling to commit?

Even if they couldn't have picked up big contracts the Team Lotus name would have been given a big boost in this region so the long-term benefits may have been considerable. There is also the question of whether Chandhok would have done so much worse than Jarno Trulli on Sunday anyway.

Either way, Chandhok reacted with commendable dignity. "Everyone knows the most important and emotional race for any driver is their home race and particularly so in my case," he said. "I've been involved with the project since the track was an empty piece of land. There's such a buzz in India at the moment – I've done 28 interviews in the last two days."

"I'm sure it's been a tough call for Tony to make and on some level I think he's feeling some pain about it as we've always had a good personal relationship. I joined this team mainly because of him and his faith in me while looking at the long term. I continue to hope that this long term plan bears fruit and I hope that one day I get to race for him again."

"I'm so proud to support the Jaypee Group in this historic weekend for Indian sport. For all the fans, including the hundreds from my home town in Chennai who have bought tickets in the hope of seeing me race and are travelling thousands of kilometres to Delhi, I hope that they all still have a wonderful time at the BIC."