Maini “looking to learn what he can” and push forward confidently at ART in 2026
- Vyas Ponnuri
- 2 hours ago
- 6 min read
Written by Vyas Ponnuri
For a country of 1.4 billion individuals, only two have made it up to the highs of Formula One. A further three have raced in Formula 2, standing at the doorstep of F1. One of them is Kush Maini, who continues his quest to become the next Indian F1 talent as he undertakes a fourth F2 campaign in 2026.
It will be a fourth different team in four years for the Indian driver, a rarity in F2 circles. To put in comparison, only Richard Verschoor and Roy Nissany have driven for four different teams in their F2 career across five seasons. His fellow Indian compatriot Jehan Daruvala competed for three different teams across four seasons.
Although the pressure of doing multiple seasons in F2 amplifies with every passing year, a fine example of a driver defying this trend was Verschoor in 2025, winning four races on his way to third in the standings.
While Maini has shown promise across his trio of seasons for Campos, Invicta Racing and DAMS, his rostrum appearances have been overshadowed by lengthy spells of races without points, or limited returns on difficult weekends. It’s something he mentions as he looks back at the past years of racing in the series.
Despite scoring points eight times in his first 10 races in 2023 for Campos, Maini would finish 11th in the standings, just ahead of Daruvala. He would score a podium at Albert Park early on in the season, benefiting from strong qualifying positions early in the year.
A switch to Invicta Racing yielded his best season to date: Five podiums, including a maiden F2 win in Hungary after Richard Verschoor’s disqualification. However, his form would tail off after the summer break, with Maini not adding to the 74 points in the final four weekends.
“Yeah, obviously, fourth year, four different teams. I don't think many people have done that,” Maini said, speaking to the media ahead of the upcoming F2 season.
“My first year (with Campos) was very strong. The second year (with Invicta Racing) started strong and went a bit downhill. And last year was just very, very difficult and confusing. So, obviously, I wanted a place that could just help me grow as a driver and help me show what I can do,” he concluded.
Maini endured a difficult campaign for DAMS in 2025, one he termed as ‘very confused’ as it went along. While victory in the Monaco sprint sparked a new dawn in his season, and celebrations among the motorsport fraternity back home, it would be the only silverware Maini would take home in 2025. He would only manage a total of 32 points across the season, dropping to 16th in the standings.
However, the results sheet doesn’t always give you the full picture, with several points scoring opportunities missed due to ill-timed safety cars, incidents, or moments of bad luck during a race weekend. Maini is one among several drivers who have had to take on the riskier, alternate strategy during F2’s Feature Races, running deep into the race with the imminent threat of safety cars looming ever more strongly.
Despite making up more than 18 positions during the Hungarian weekend, he would miss out on points in both races. This comeback drive came about after Maini had been impeded by PREMA Racing’s Sebastián Montoya on his final flying lap in qualifying.
Similarly, Maini’s front row start in Monza didn’t amount to a meaningful result, after an incident with Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne sent the Indian spinning into the gravel at Curva Grande in the Sprint Race. A similar excursion followed in the Feature Race the next day, after an unsuccessful overtake attempt on Arvid Lindblad into the first chicane.
It’s these factors Maini highlights, terming the nature of the championship as ‘strange’ and leaving a driver searching for answers.
“F2 can be very strange. And last year, honestly, I was very confused over the year,” Maini responded, when asked by DIVEBOMB about his 2025 season.
“And then I got into the (Alpine) F1 car at the end of the year (during the post-season test), and then suddenly we were back on pace with some of the best in the world. So that was sort of like a relief that I still know how to drive,” Maini continued.
While the bittersweet moments took away potential opportunities to score, it also left Maini to come to terms with the unpredictability of the championship from one weekend to another, and take forward all the learning into the upcoming season with his new team. While the top 10 starts in Monaco, Silverstone, Spain and Monza highlighted Maini’s qualifying form, the one-lap pace has been a vital strength for Maini all the way through his F2 career.
“I think it's just about being in a good place with the team, working well with your engineer, being in a positive mindset, and obviously understanding that in F2 you're going to have a lot of bad days, sometimes very confusing days,” he mentioned, looking back at his season.
“It's just about learning what you can from those (tough days) and pushing forward. So I think that experience will really help me this year, especially with ART. But pace-wise, I think it's been the same over the last four years,” Maini continued.
“I think the experience I can take is really just the mindset and understanding the bad days and moving forward,” he concluded, responding to DIVEBOMB about his biggest takeaways from the previous years in F2.
The ART factor: A fourth F2 team in four seasons
Maini’s move to ART Grand Prix may only be a couple of hours away from his former base at DAMS, but the move certainly represents a major opportunity for the Indian driver to resurrect his F2 form.
ART Grand Prix are looking for a strong comeback to the top of the grid. Having finished third in 2022, before winning both championships in 2023 and the Anthoine Hubert award (best rookie) with Theo Pourchaire and Victor Martins, the French team’s form has taken a nosedive.
The team only took four further victories ever since their constructors’ title win, two apiece to Martins and Zak O’Sullivan across both seasons, and made a handful of appearances on the podium. The drop in form saw ART Grand Prix place only seventh and eighth in the standings across both seasons.
The path of redemption and return to the top aligns well with both Maini and the team, with the Indian believing in leveraging his three years of racing in the series to rejuvenate the team’s 2026 campaign.
“Obviously, I've put it on pole, I've won races, but I just haven't done it consistently yet, and I've struggled to put a year together. And ART saw that. They've also been struggling the last couple of years, for ART’s standards, so we're sort of in the same boat,” Maini said.
“I think I can bring my experience to help them with this car. And I believe they can help me get the best out of myself. I think this is the team I really needed, a team that knows what it takes to win championships,” he concluded.
Pre-season testing has only increased this wave of optimism in Maini and ART’s camp. The Indian driver completed the most laps during the three days of testing in Barcelona, setting a total of 243 laps along the way. He also made one top 10 appearance in the timesheets, finishing seventh on the second day of testing.
While timesheets often do not give away the real picture, three days of uninterrupted running would certainly give Maini a boost of confidence, going into the new season. In what is set to be another closely contested season, Maini is focusing on staying realistic and adapting to the situation.
“It's really just about working with your team, understanding a few things, because it's going to change a lot when the season starts. So yeah, I'm not surprised the times are close.
“But in the end, when you get to Melbourne (for Round 1), and you only have one free practice and straight away to qualify on a different compound, that's when I think it (the lap times) will be more realistic. So yeah, I would say we need to just wait and see. But for sure, the grid is very competitive,” Maini said, looking ahead to the upcoming weekend.
There’s also the matter of a younger, rookie teammate alongside Maini, adding yet more to the budding team dynamic down at ART Grand Prix. Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak comes into F2 on the back of a title-winning Formula 3 season with Campos, one that saw him finish seventh in the standings.
“Kush (Maini) has a lot of experience in this championship for sure. He's been with top teams in the past, so for sure he can share that knowledge to ART now to help the team grow. I think we've worked very well together in testing so far,” the Thai driver said, ahead of the upcoming season.
“I think we have a good relationship. So yeah, just try to push each other forward and hopefully get some good results for the team,” he concluded, looking ahead.
No matter how close the championship pans out to be, ART will be hoping for the scales to tilt in their favour come the 2026 F2 season, and put their faith in Maini’s pace and Inthraphuvasak’s momentum to bring back the silverware once again.
