Indian driver Kush Maini took a step closer to his dream of reaching Formula One after the Alpine F1 team signed him on for their young driver programme.
The 23-year-old from Bengaluru is competing in his maiden season in Formula 2 with Campos Racing and has been one of the most impressive rookies on the grid. Though he has only one podium to his name, he has shown flashes of brilliance, like qualifying second at Silverstone.
For a driver who was set to quit racing two years ago as the budgets dried up during the pandemic, the vote of confidence from Alpine F1 has come as a shot in the arm. Recently, former two-time F1 champion Mika Hakkinen came on board as his mentor and will guide the Indian.
Invaluable experience
“I think it has been a long journey, and the last few years were tough, as many of my drives fell through in 2020 and 2021. If you had told me two years ago that I would be in F2, have an affiliation with an F1 team, with Mika in my corner, I would have said you were joking. But now we are the last step, and I can smell F1, but it will take a lot of work to get there,” said Kush in an interaction with The Hindu following the announcement.
Explaining the benefits of being associated with an F1 team, he said, “Just to be with a professional team at the top level of motorsport is an invaluable experience. The chance to speak with engineers and be on the simulator; you learn a lot by spending just one day at an F1 factory. But at the end of the day, you have to perform in F2. Once you do well, that road to drive an F1 car like a young driver test or a session in Free Practice 1 is easier as there is a path.”
Speaking about his season so far, where he is 12th in the standings, Kush said while he was pleased with his pace in qualifying, he was candid that there are many areas to improve.
“Personally and as a team, our race pace has not been as strong as in qualifying, and we need to improve on it. The F2 cars have carbon brakes, and the brake bias is a sensitive tool, which wasn’t the case in other formulas I have driven. I should have been more on it and definitely could have done better. The target for next year is to make fewer mistakes, be consistent and improve my race understanding,” said Kush.
