Hispania have two inexperienced drivers in Indian Chandhok and Brazilian Bruno Senna, who are both 26 and each made their F1 debuts this season in Bahrain.
"It's a great thing for the marketplace to see competition around a great design, " said Rob Chandhok, who heads software strategy for chip maker Qualcomm Inc.
The new teams again trailed at the bottom, with the Lotus duo of Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen ahead of Virgin's Lucas di Grassi, HRT's Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna .
After his short-lived debut at Bahrain, Karun Chandhok's Hispania had to be pushed back to the pit lane by the marshals after a suspected gearbox failure left it stranded on the track.
The decision to sign Karthikeyan, 33, also dashed the immediate hopes of compatriot Karun Chandhok, who started 10 races for Hispania last year before being replaced by better-funded drivers at the Spanish-owned outfit.