Quick thinking can reap rewards in motorsport

Arjun Maini serves as an example of not being afraid to rethink and move quickly on one’s feet when it comes to motorsport.

Motorsport is not kind to those who choose to compete in it. There is almost always a lot more to just the results one sees on race classifications or media reports. But at the end of the day, the results are what count. Yes, I know, I am stating the obvious but I believe I have good reason to do so.

Before he made his FIA European Formula 3 Championship debut in 2015, Arjun Maini’s talent was apparent given his performances in the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand and BRDC F4. One expected a step up to a Formula Renault 2.0 series in Europe to prepare for an eventual Formula 3 campaign.

The importance of F3 cannot be stressed enough as the partially open formula – teams are allowed a lot more spending and adjustments to a common chassis – allows drivers to learn a lot about how racing at the very top level works.

Even the drivers that do the equivalent GP3 or the higher GP2 almost always go through European F3. Even before Max Verstappen took F1 by storm by coming to it straight from F3 – and karting before it – many drivers have gotten to it at a progressively young age.

The need to get an early jump is what drew Maini to head straight to European F3 with a top team in 2015. An added lure was getting access to Verstappen’s data as he had competed with the same team. An attractive offer, financially speaking, was made and off he went. But then of course the intricacies were revealed and going into the campaign without an engineer dedicated to him and having to make do with the setup that suited the lead driver in the team meant the results started to paint a very ugly picture.

Slight relief was found, however, on the street circuit of Pau where the playing field would have been level due to all the other drivers having limited running on it. A fourth and fifth place in two of the three races that weekend was a lot more reflective of his capabilities than the lower midfield and tail-end results he was getting.

After that weekend, it was back to the usual trend. A drive with one of F3’s have-not teams in 2016 led to an even disastrous start before a rethink came into effect. Switching to the GP3 series – that is centrally controlled and a lot less open than F3 – led to consistent points scoring finishes.

All of this culminated in a weekend to remember for Maini where he not only won the sprint race at the opening round at Spain but was also named as a development driver for the Haas F1 team. The change in course has not only helped in boosting Maini’s confidence but also brought him to the attention of those who follow junior racing series, particularly one like GP3 that is held on F1 weekends.

Credit goes to Maini’s mentor and manager Karun Chandhok too for helping the JK Tyre and TVS sponsored driver get out of the rut that could have regressed his racing career. Other drivers before Maini have also tried to advance too quickly to their detriment. Knowing when to bail and try something different is clearly an important part of making it in motorsport as is very evident with how things are going for Maini right now.
There are sure to be others who will follow Maini as well as his compatriot Jehan Daruvala into professional motorsport – hopefully they will keep his experience in mind.