The narrative of the inaugural Indian Grand Prix was broadly similar to that we have seen often this year: Sebastian Vettel drove his Red Bull from pole position to win the race while a McLaren and Ferrari collided.

However, local hero Narain Karthikeyan outperformed expectations and sparked what might be the beginning of significant public and corporate interest in F1 from the sub-continent.

Whilst the bhangra folk dancing in the paddock was unique on the F1 calendar - and most welcome - the only topic of much debate was whether this time Lewis Hamilton or Felipe Massa was to blame.

The Briton certainly was in Monaco, Singapore and Japan. On Sunday, though, Massa was at fault and received a drive-through (the pits) penalty. However, there's no doubt Hamilton should have made a better decision. It did not take Mystic Meg to predict the Brazilian would be belligerent in defense. But Lewis put his car at risk and the consequence was an unscheduled stop (to change the nose) and a result (7th) below its and his potential.

Comedian Rowan Atkinson (best known as Mr Bean) was a guest in the McLaren pit. His facial expression, caught on TV, summed-up the general feeling. Not again

More encouraging was India's reaction to the event. It seemed there would be two local drivers, but Team Lotus chose not to race Karun Chandhok. It's easier to understand the decision of team boss (and AirAsia founder) Tony Fernandes when you consider the fight for 10th in the Constructor's championship. The $25 million or so difference in prize money is about a quarter of the team's annual budget!

Karthikeyan did a good job to uphold local honor. His teammate Daniel Ricciardo is considered by many (including his sponsor Red Bull) a future champion, so qualifying just one tenth of a second slower was impressive - even if the pair lined up only 21st and 22nd of 24 in their inferior HRT cars.

On Sunday, in front of 95,000 spectators, the Coimbatore native finished ahead (in 17th) though, to be fair, the Australian youngster was faster and more consistent, but dropped a position because of an unscheduled pitstop.

Karthikeyan played well the cards he was dealt and it seems there's now interest from other companies to join long-time supporter Tata and help the 34-year old secure a full-time ride for 2012.

Sameer Gaur's team did a brilliant job putting on last week's event. They made India look good. We've seen in China that local heroes are needed to generate and sustain interest in a sport - Yao Ming and Li Na being just two examples. And there's a good chance now Karthikeyan will do the same for motor sport in India.

After a successful career on the track, Matthew Marsh now works at JMI - the world's leading motor sport marketing company. He can be reached at mmarsh@justmarketing.com.