Arjun Maini: A history
American Formula One team Haas F1, owned by American motorsport expert Gene Haas, announced today that they have signed 19-year-old Indian kart racer Arjun Maini as a development driver.
Joining American junior Santino Ferrucci, 18 at Haas, Maini is a regular fixture on the racing circuit in India and abroad, and the Indian is an experienced GP3 driver, currently on his second stint in the sport.
Maini is part of a famed Indian racing family, with brother Kush and father Gautam both racers, the latter in the early 1990s. With a long CV of racing behind him, Maini the younger of two racing brothers, began in the sport with early karting championships in India, such as the MiniMax and then, the pan-continent AsiaMax. He then broke a record in winning the Malaysian Royal Kelatan Kart Prix aged only 11, in 2008.
The young driver was properly noticed and came to big-time limelight in 2011, when he was scouted by Force India F1 as part of their young talent scheme that year, at only 14 years old. It would only be another two years before the youngster moved from karts to cars, and then another three before he moved into Formula Racing, starting off at the very bottom in Formula 4, and over the next two seasons, showed consistent results in the form of podium finishes and wins.
In 2014, the driver finished runner-up in the British F4 championship, bringing
Moving up in Formula racing
2015 saw the young driver put through the wringer in Formula 3, but picked up on that to finish in the top 10 drivers the following season despite missing the first quarter of the racing season.
Although Maini is already signed to GP3 as a part of Swiss racing team Jenzer Motorsport, it was announced that he would also sign on to Haas as a development driver.
For non-F1 followers, development drivers do not take part in competitive racing throughout the season, but are regularly used by teams in pre-, during- and post-season testing – and will often help pinpoint what is wrong with vehicles to discover improvements.
Development drivers have close chances to drive for the team, and are sometimes deputed to do so when main drivers are either unable to race or in rarer cases, seriously underperforming.
A number of development drivers have gone on to make it big in Formula One – among them Felipe Massa of Williams and formerly of Ferrari, Sergio Perez, who was in development for Ferrari before joining Force India Formula One – with whom he has scored a podium finish since and has now become their number one driver.
A lifelong desire fulfilled
Maini has always wanted to be in F1! “All of my racing to date has been with the focus of becoming a Formula 1 driver, and this opportunity puts me one step closer to my goal,” he said in a statement released by Haas F1 yesterday. He will join two other Indians who have been part of Formula One, but unlike the other two, young Maini is yet to be in the driver’s seat in a race.
Both Karun Chandhok and Narain Karthikeyan were part of teams, with Chandhok driving for HRT and Lotus in Formula One, the latter alongside experienced Finn Heikki Kovalainen, while Karthikeyan drove for HRT and Jordan over his own.
Chandhok is still a central fixture in Formula One, and one of the sport’s leading pundits today. A popular commentator, the Indian continues to be a big name related to the sport and could well guide the young Maini through his fledgling F1 steps.
Things you didn’t know
Even at a young age, Maini was always a fitness enthusiast and is a keen cyclist, wrestler and spends time in the gymnasium. Who’s his favourite driver, though? That would be 4-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel, currently with Ferrari and leading the championship this year.
