JEHAN IS A REAL FORCE ON THE GRID

FORMULA E star Jehan Daruvala really is ‘one in a billion’ – because he won his career in a competition with that name.

Daruvala (top) is the only rookie on this year’s Formula E grid, having moved on from his F1 dream, where he was a protege of the old Force India team.

In fact, he was plucked by Force India from thousands of other young drivers in his teenage years as they looked to find the next Indian motorsport superstar.

Aged just 13, Daruvala was fortunate even to be considered, with entries only open to those between 14 and 17. But after a rethink, Force India changed the rules of their ‘One in a Billion’ hunt, allowing two drivers out of the 100 finalists to be outside of the age range.

“I was the fastest guy below the age of 14 and qualified by just one hundredth of a second,” Daruvala said. “That was probably the biggest one hundredth of my life, it changed my career.

“Initially it was only meant to be one from a billion, but it showed 100 finalists down to 50, then 50 down to 10, and then 10 of us went to England. We were judged by Anthony Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg and some other great people in motorsport and they felt they couldn’t shortlist one, so they picked three of us.

“We were put to race in the British Karting Championship in juniors. It was straight into the deep end for us, coming from India to a high-level championship and it was pretty cut-throat.

“It was a season that I did well, I scored quite a few podiums and I was told that I was the one.”

Daruvala went from strength-tostrength and made it to the cusp of Formula One on the back of his success.

He was the team-mate of Lando Norris and would go on to drive in the F2 series for three years, while also being part of the Red Bull driver academy.

But with F1 places at a premium, Daruvala knew he would need to look elsewhere to extend his world championship potential. Now 25, he has been given his chance with the Maserati MSG team in Formula E.

“Red Bull is a cut-throat environment. I had the opportunity and it didn’t work out to get to Formula One.

“Even now, it is very difficult to get to Formula One, so it is important to remember that there are more things outside of F1. You can be a successful racing driver outside of Formula One.”

WATCH the Sao Paulo E-Prix live on TNT Sports tomorrow.