Now, Arjun Ha(A)s A F1 Bow!

Arjun Maini is going places. Haas has picked him as a development driver and the Bengaluru lad CELEBRATED the appointment with a GP3 race triumph in Barcelona.

- Dipak Raghav

Recently, the 19-year old Bengaluru boy, Arjun Maini, was announced as a development driver for the Haas F1 team, a great achievement by itself. And the teenager backed it up with a maiden win in the GP3 race in Barcelona, a first win for an Indian in one of the premier junior category stepping stones to Formula One, after nearly eight years.

WHILE SOME MAY SCOFF at just one win in the junior category, the achievement should be seen in the context of a lot of other things.

For starters, GP3 is just two levels below F1 and is one of the most competitive championships contested by some of the best junior drivers in the world.

Arjun’s mentor and former F1 driver Karun Chandhok knows a thing or two about winning in junior categories.

Chandhok, who won two races in GP2, a level below F1 said, “It’s interesting that when I won in Spa in GP2 for the first time, the feeling I had was relief. Relief that I had proved I could compete with the best in Europe at a level just outside F1. I was a Red Bull F1 test driver at that time and the pressure was huge. There was no Indian in F1 at that time so the pressure to get to F1 was high. And the relief was a feeling that superseded the joy.