Chasing dreams
Kush Maini is now part of a third motorsport series as he joins Mahindra Racing as a reserve driver. Here’s what he had to say
“THE DRIVER LEVEL ISN’T THAT DIFFERENT FROM F1 TO FORMULA E”
THINGS HAVE BEEN GOING well lately for Kush Maini. Kush who currently races in FIA Formula 2, joined the Alpine Academy as a junior driver last month and now Mahindra Racing has signed him as a reserve driver for Season 10 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.
Kush has ascended through the ranks of motorsport, starting his single-seater career in Italian F4 in 2016. Maini’s journey continued with success in British Formula 3, Formula Renault Eurocup and FIA Formula 3. Now, joining Mahindra Racing, Maini embarks on a new chapter in his career. His responsibilities entail working closely with the team’s race drivers, working on the simulators and potential participation in selected E-Prix events.
About the opportunity
“I think my F2 season opened a few eyes, and it showed that there’s an Indian in his rookie season who is doing a decent job and can fight at the front of an F2 grid. So, I got a call, and it was basically that — how would you like to be a reserve driver? And I was quite shocked, because 2022 didn’t end in the best way. And now, to have so many things on my plate is amazing. So, I think it just came about through good results.”
Balancing commitments
“The roles are sort of similar. For Mahindra, I have to be race-ready, so I have to learn a lot and be as good as the race drivers on the sim that, if they have an issue one day, I can jump in and perform. With Alpine, it’s slightly different in that respect, where I’ll be doing a lot of sim work still, but I’ll be working closely with the team and in the gym with the Alpine trainers, basically where Alpine is trying to prepare me to see that one day I’m good enough to be in F1.”
Difference in EV and ICE racing
“I think obviously from a young age, you hear these loud engines, you see the smoke and everything and that’s great, but for me as a racing driver, it’s just about challenges. I’m not going to lie here and say F1 is not my dream, it is every kid’s dream, but Formula E, in its respect, is a world championship with the best drivers in the world who deserve to be in F1. So for me, the driver level isn’t that different from F1 to Formula E, and at the end of the day, it’s a diverse championship, it’s a different type of racing, but as a racing driver, it’s so exciting to drive two different things at the top level.”
Different technical challenges
“I think, as a racing driver, it’s all about adapting. If it rains one day, or if it’s dry the next day, you’ve got to adapt, and you’ve got to be the quickest. One day I’ll be in the Formula E sim and I’ll have my notes ready, I’ll have a different book and then the next day I might be in my F2 sim, or the F1 sim, and then it’s a different book. But it’s going to help train my mind to switch between two completely different things, which is going to help my adaptability. Tomorrow if it starts raining during a race, I’m adaptable and prepared for it. It’ll be tricky at first, but after sometime, I’ll get it.” ⌧