Alpine’s Formula 1 team have bolstered its junior ranks after confirming that Formula 2 racer Kush Maini will be joining the side’s driver academy.

Maini is encountering his maiden campaign in the second-tier series with Campos Racing, scoring a third-place finish in the Australia Sprint race in the third round.

But having been a regular points scorer earlier in the season, the Indian has only added three further points finishes across the past 14 races.

Consequently, Maini has since slipped to 11th in the Drivers’ Championship with 60 points to his name.

It was announced last week that Maini, younger brother of ex-Haas development driver Arjun Maini, will be mentored by two-time F1 champion Mika Hakkinen

Now, with one round remaining in the F2 championship at the end of November in Abu Dhabi, Alpine have confirmed that Maini will be part of its driver development programme.

The 23-year-old will accompany fellow Alpine-backed drivers Jack Doohan and Victor Martins in F2’s season finale at the Yas Marina Circuit.

Doohan is scheduled to drive for the Anglo-French outfit in FP1 at this weekend’s Mexico Grand Prix while combining his F2 duties with another F1 outing in Abu Dhabi.

Maini has already asserted that his target is to mount a title challenge through a second season in the F2 category next year, which is also set to be supported by Alpine.

His addition means the Enstone squad currently has nine drivers in its academy set-up. Aside from three drivers in F2, Alpine also has a trio in F3 consisting of Gabriele Mini, Sophia Floersch and Nikola Tsolov, alongside Matheus Ferreira and Abbi Pulling in F4, and young karter Kean Nakamura Berta.

“I am super excited to be joining the Alpine Academy,” Maini expressed.

“It’s a dream come true to be associated with a team like Alpine, where I can learn and grow to hopefully one day be ready to take the step into F1. A massive thank you to Alpine for believing in me and giving me this opportunity.”

Julian Rouse, interim Sporting Director of the Alpine F1 team added: “We are happy to welcome Kush into the Alpine Academy. He is a young talent who we believe has strong potential and will be a great asset to our driver development programme.

“The Alpine Academy will enter its ninth year in 2024 and currently features nine drivers of eight nationalities, spanning four different series from FIA F2 through to European Karting. The continual expansion of the Academy’s talent pool runs in parallel to the expansion of our facilities at Enstone with the development of our new state-of-the-art training and testing facilities.”

Two-time Formula 1 World Champion Mika Hakkinen will mentor rookie Formula 2 racer Kush Maini, the pair have revealed.

Maini began his maiden campaign in the second-tier series as a regular points scorer with Campos Racing, peaking with a third-place finish in the Australia Sprint race.

But the Indian’s form has nosedived since then, only achieving three points finishes in the past 14 races. Maini has since slipped to 11th in the standings with 60 points.

However, Maini believes he can be a regular contender at the front in 2024 with the support of Hakkinen, who previously worked with multiple-time F1 winner Valtteri Bottas.

“I think from next year, my approach and that of my team is going to be a lot more structured thanks to Mika,” Maini said. “Having a trainer who’s looking after your nutrition at the track, a mind coach looking after anything you’re going through on a race weekend. Basically the way Mika works is you narrow down everything to the point where the driver just has one job.”

Maini is the younger brother of Arjun Maini, who previously competed in F2 for two seasons and temporarily held a role within Haas’ F1 operation as a development driver.

The 23-year-old is relishing the prospect of working with one of the sport’s greatest-ever drivers as he strives to reach the top flight.

“I’ve watched Mika since I was young. And I know everything he has achieved in this sport,” he commented.

“So just for him to believe that I could reach Formula One shows that we’ve done something right in these last 15 years. It’s a massive weapon you have in your arsenal when you have Mika Hakkinen standing behind you!”

Hakkinen states that progressing Maini through to F1 is their collective ambition.

“I have a lot of experience from working with Valtteri Bottas seeing him developing and growing as a driver,” Hakkinen added. 

“More recently I’ve been following Kush, understanding his abilities, his talent for driving. It’s a very interesting journey together to develop, to be an even more professional racing driver. F1 is our objective, not forgetting the current situation.

However, the Finn insists he will not detail into instructing Maini on specific driving techniques: “I don’t think I have to put my nose into that,” he clarified.

Instead, Hakkinen explains that his newfound role will comprise utilising the “communication and the network that I have. These assets are very powerful when looking after a young talented driver.

“I’ve been an ambassador for Formula One and been part of F1 since 1991. It’s an asset, the power that I have to take this young driver into the right places at the right time.

“Of course, India is an enormous, powerful country. I’m part of bringing a young driver from India to Formula One, bringing these mega companies, learning to understand the opportunities that Formula One can bring them. And vice versa, of course, what Formula One can experience and create with India. I can only see beautiful success stories.

“India is going to be very powerful. And I want all Indians to know Kush Maini, I want everybody in India cheering him. I want them to feel that he’s going to be a winner in Formula One. Of course it requires very hard work and a lot of sacrifices.

“Because of my experience in this motor racing world, I do understand timing, being in the right team, having the right partners, working with the right people is crucial.”

Despite still having the F2 season finale in Abu Dhabi to contest, Maini expressed that he has already got his eye on next year.

“Having Mika behind me, my whole team being created now and not having to stress about racing, I think it’s a very exciting time for myself, and I definitely feel I haven’t showed anywhere near what I am capable of in the car,” he explained. “I’m very excited to hopefully show it next year.”

Maini’s career will also be supported by Guillaume le Goff, who also works with Alpine F1 driver Pierre Gasly. He will manage the day-to-day business of Maini’s career.

Campos Racing has announced the signing of Kush Maini for the 2023 Formula 2 season.

The Indian driver will compete alongside Ralph Boschung next year.

Maini spent 2022 racing in the FIA Formula 3 series for MP Motorsport, taking a podium finish at the Hungary Sprint Race.

He will link up with Campos at the post-season test in Abu Dhabi to get his first taste of the team.

“Super happy to be joining Campos Racing team! I’ve spent some time with the team at their workshop and really enjoyed the atmosphere and the professionalism, looking forward to the three-day test in Abu Dhabi to officially start our relationship together!

“I would like to thank Mumbai Falcons, Omega Seiki Mobility and JK Racing for all their support.”

Campos Racing ended the 2022 Teams’ Championship in 11th place, scoring three podiums across the campaign.

Adrián Campos, Campos Racing Team Principal, added: “On behalf of Campos Racing, I would like to extend a warm welcome to Kush.

“He is a very committed, professional racing driver with a great work capacity, so we expect he will be able to complete a strong rookie season next year.

“He carried out some strong performances in FIA Formula 3 this season and hopefully he will make further improvements in the ultra-competitive FIA F2 Championship.”

Kush Maini concluded the sole Formula 3 practice session from the Silverstone Circuit on top of the timesheet, setting a 1:44.841.

F3 drivers have just one session to prepare for their weekend, with qualifying taking place later today.

Maini, who has taken just one point-paying result so far this season, ended the outing marginally ahead of MP Motorsport team-mate Caio Collet.

The Alpine academy driver sat just 0.035s behind in second place, but there was a sizeable gap back to third-placed Kaylen Frederick, who was over six-tenths of a second down on the front-running pace.

Roman Stanek fourth for Trident, while Red Bull junior driver Isack Hadjar was fifth fastest.

Victor Martins, who enters the weekend with the lead in the Drivers’ Championship, was sixth ahead of Zak O’Sullivan.

Zane Maloney was eighth, leading Jonny Edgar and Pepe Marti, who rounded out the top 10.

Qualifying for the Silverstone weekend will get underway at 15:00 local time