Narain Karthikeyan has called for teams and drivers to refrain from making political statements.
The HRT driver's comments come after Ferrari carried the Italian Navy flag on their cars in India in support of the institution and "in the hope that the Indian and Italian authorities will soon find a solution to the situation currently involving two sailors from the Italian Navy."
The situation in question involves the arrest of two marines on board the Italian ship 'Enrica Lexie' that shot two Indian fisherman, mistakenly believing them to be pirates.
The decision drew criticism from Indian officials and Karthikeyan has now explained why he did not responded to Ferrari's decision by donning the Indian Naval flag.
"I support my country and for this I have the national symbol of India on my helmet, but that is something I've carried from the beginning of my career," he is quoted as saying by Tuttosport.
"It is better to keep politics out of the race. What the military has done is wrong, but there is an ongoing process," he asserted.
