INDIA in F1

Tag: Campos Racing

  • Kush Maini aiming for a clean sprint race on debut: F2

    Kush Maini aiming for a clean sprint race on debut: F2

    Bahrain, 3 March 2023: Indian hope Kush Maini put together an impressive Qualifying session on debut for Campos Racing, ending the session sixth-fastest in the Qualifying session of the Formula 2 World Championship opening round here on Friday.

    The other Indian in F2, Jehan Daruvala is perhaps trying to have a last go in the F2 season but has already laid plans for Formula E. Today he qualified P 11. Being one of the favourites last season, Daruvala failed to lived up to his own standards due to various reasons that hindered his progress, some which were not in his hands.

    The 22-year old Indian admitted he was a little bit more nervous than usual, owing to the fact he was confident that there was a good performance within both himself and the car.

    Following post-season and pre-season testing as well as the Free Practice session on Friday, Maini said that knowing a strong result was on the cards made his Qualifying a little more critical. But after securing a strong starting position, the Campos driver says proving it to himself is another bonus at this early stage of his F2 career.

    “It was a nerve-wracking session. I knew from testing and since I’ve driven this car that it suits my driving style, and I know that the Campos cars are really good. I knew that if we put everything together, we could be in the mix and that’s what made it more stressful.

    “I’m super happy. I did some good laps. Both were good enough for P6 I think. We did a one-lap strategy on both sets, so we have good tyres for the races and I’m looking forward to it. Now that all the weight is off my shoulders, I feel a lot more confident. I always knew I could fight with the best in the world, so it felt good to be up there,” added the Bengaluru driver.

    As usual, there was a level of track evolution that played out during the Qualifying session, though the degree in which the track improved caught Maini by surprise. Not because of a huge leap in available grip between runs, but the lack of improvement versus what had been predicted.

    It meant that the field was tightly bunched fighting for a top 10 starting position. Maini highlighted pre-season testing as the factor that made a good grid slot tough to come by due to the knowledge levels teams and drivers had developed.

    “Track improvement was not as much as I thought. All the times were any tight except P1 because we’ve been here for four days now, so it’s going to be tight and every tenth is going to be massive. I think the average improvement was like two-tenths from the first set to the second, and I thought with the fuel burning off and driving improvements, it would be at least half a second. So it was quite surprising, but it was the same for everyone,” continued the younger of the two Maini brothers.

    Along with teammate Ralph Boschung, both Campos drivers made it inside the top 10. Boschung is set to start the Sprint Race from reverse grid pole, meaning there’s a good possibility of strong points finishes on the table for both drivers.

    Maini highlighted the importance of getting off the mark early in the season and securing valuable points where possible.

    “Campos has always been strong. They went through some difficult patches last year, but when I signed for the team, I knew I wasn’t just signing to be on the grid, I was signing to fight. I’m just happy we could finally show that potential. I think we had a bit more, but we’ll take it. Ralph is on pole tomorrow and we can get some good points this weekend, so I’m really happy for the boys.

    “Tomorrow will be the first F2 race for me, so we obviously did the race runs in Practice so we have an idea of how to pursue it from the start. I’m just gonna keep it clean, keep it on the road, no crazy risks and hopefully bring some points.”

  • Kush Maini to boost Campos Racing plans: F2 Testing roundup

    Kush Maini to boost Campos Racing plans: F2 Testing roundup

    Campos Racing are determined to be back with a vengeance this season and their hopes are boosted with the addition of Indian racing star and Formula 3 graduate Kush Maini to the squad. After their 2022 plans began with such promise and success during the opening rounds, the Spanish team’s dreams were derailed by Ralph Boschung’s unfortunate neck injury early on.

    Yet now with the experienced Swiss driver remaining at the helm and along with Kush Maini, the signs of a strong 2023 campaign are beginning to emerge, an FIA Formula2 news report said.

    Locking in their line-up prior to post-season testing at the Yas Marina Circuit last November has given both drivers the ideal situation – time to embed themselves within the team. While the disappointments of last year were a bitter pill to swallow, there seems to be a rejuvenated sense of confidence emanating from their garage.

    Their performance during testing in Bahrain correlates this, both in terms of lap time and mileage. Alongside each driver topping a session on the final day of running, Boschung secured the sixth-fastest time overall across the three days, with Maini hot on his heels in ninth. Importantly, the pair were both within half a second of Van Amersfoort Racing’s Richard Verschoor.

    Additionally, Campos notched the fifth highest number of laps as a team, while Maini’s haul of 195 laps was only bested by the ART Grand Prix duo of Théo Pourchaire and Victor Martins and PREMA Racing’s Frederik Vesti and Oliver Bearman.

    For Maini, his attentions have been firmly fixed on tyre management – particularly managing two different compounds in a race for the first time and adapting to the variables in strategies. The Indian driver says that finding an understanding and a balance with his long-run pace will be vital, especially when navigating the 32-lap Feature Race around the Bahrain International Circuit.

    “I’m feeling great! I’m working well with the team, and we ran our plan without any issues and gathered a lot of data to go through before Round 1. We focused on race runs a lot, with both the soft and the hard tyres, to understand them better – especially for myself, as I’ve never worked with them before.

    “Our main focus will be all around. We’ll be going through all the information we collected, but I think we will dive deeper into the long runs and figure out the best way to manage the tyres.”

    More importantly for Maini as he prepares for his Formula 2 debut, the laps on the board have given him a solid baseline to start off with. Whilst immediately getting up to speed during the opening round is the dream scenario, realistically, maintaining a steady level of progression and development throughout the long 14-round season is the ideal target.

    Over in the #25 Campos box, Boschung’s experience and continuity is a valuable asset to a team who are looking to bounce back and a beneficial reference point for Maini to learn from. A relatively smooth sailing throughout testing with few short interruptions gave the team the opportunity to fully execute their run plan.

  • Kush Maini tests F2 car for Campos Racing: Post-season test

    Kush Maini tests F2 car for Campos Racing: Post-season test

    Abu Dhabi, 22 Nov 2022: Kush Maini, the rising Indian talent completed 20 laps successfully in the pre-season F2 Test for his new team Campos Racing at the Yas Mairna Circuit here on Wednesday.

    Maini clocked a best lap time of 1min 37.982sec on the first day in office in the new F2 machine and posted 20 laps in the morning session and went on to improve in the afternoon session standing 7th in the time-sheets after a productive 34 laps. Top Indian racer Jehan Daruvala, too took part in the post-season test for MP Motorsport and logged 29 laps in the morning and 30 laps in the evening.

    It was a bright and early start for the field at the Yas Marina Circuit. Having already signed on for the 2023 season with Campos Racing, Ralph Boschung set the initial benchmark of a 1:37.820 during a relatively quiet opening 30 minutes of the Morning session.

    Later, Kush Maini despite some initial hiccups had some valuable seat time and managed to gain good experience. There were three Red Flag appearances during the final hour and a half of the opening session. Enzo Fittipaldi for Carlin and Campos’ Kush Maini stopped on track in separate incidents but were both able to continue their run programmes later. Testing will resume at 9AM local time on Thursday.

    On Tuesday, Campos Racing announced that Maini was signed to race in the F2 series for 2023. The Indian who has made excellent progress in recent seasons took part in the F3 races and enjoyed a podium despite a roller-coaster year.

    Maini will drive a Campos Racing-entered Dallara F2 car alongside previously announced Ralph Boschung.

    Campos Racing are delighted to announce that Kush Maini will join their driver line-up for the 2023 FIA Formula 2 Championship season at the wheel of one of their Dallara F2 2018 cars. Kush will join previously announced Ralph Boschung securing a lineup with a great mix of experience, new blood and driving skills.

    Maini was born in Bangalore (India) on 22 September 2000 and made his single-seater racing debut in 2016 by competing in the Italian F4 Championship. Maini rapidly showed his talent as he managed to step onto the podium on his season debut. The Indian talent was then Vice-Champion in the 2020 BRDC British Formula 3 Championship with 3 wins and 12 podium to his name. He entered the 2022 FIA Formula 3 Championship season with promising results as he also visited the podium.

    Kush becomes the second Maini taking part in the FIA Formula 2 with Campos Racing as his elder brother Arjun joined the Spanish-based racing team for selected rounds back in 2019.

    Both Boschung and Maini will carry out FIA Formula 2’s post-season collective testing in Abu Dhabi on 23-25 November in preparation for the 2023 season.

    Adrián Campos (Campos Racing Team Principal): “On behalf of Campos Racing, I would like to extend a warm welcome to Kush (Maini). 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 (Campos Racing Driver of FIA formula 2): “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 3-day test at 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”