F2 racer Kush Maini is the latest addition in the Alpine Academy in F1 after the Indian came under the guidance of Mika Hakkinen.
Having recently come under the guidance and mentorship of Hakkinen, F2 racer Maini has made another move towards the F1 goal by joining the Alpine driver academy for the rest of the 2023 season and continue on in 2024 as well.
He will get to use the facilities at Alpine to better prepare for his F2 campaign where he likely to continue on in 2024 as well. He is in his rookie season with Campos Racing and sits just outside the Top 10 after promising performances throughout the season.
He has had some unlucky moments in recent races which has dropped him outside of the Top 10. While his elder brother Arjun had joined the Haas F1 programme, the younger one has taken up the opportunity to join the Alpine programme.
The French outfit recently handed Jack Doohan a FP1 chance in Mexico and Abu Dhabi, while F2 front-runner Victor Martins is on the edge of getting a F1 test too. “I am super excited to be joining the Alpine Academy. It’s a dream come true to be associated with a team like BWT Alpine F1 Team, where I can learn and grow to hopefully one day be ready to take the step into Formula 1,” said Maini.
“A massive thank you to Alpine for believing in me and giving me this opportunity.” At the same time, Alpine’s Julian Rouse 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 Formula 2 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, the AHPC, underway.”
Here’s news on Kush Maini being mentored by Mika Hakkinen
Here’s Jack Doohan with FP1 chance with Alpine
Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact