Kush Maini takes a second place finish in today’s Feature Race at the Hungarian Grand Prix, sharing the podium with Noel León in first and Rafael Câmara in third.
This is the ART Grand Prix driver’s third podium of the season after some successful performances in the Barcelona Sprint Race and Silverstone Feature Race.
Although this was nearly converted into a win, some luck was thrown towards León, including a perfectly timed Virtual Safety Car that allowed him to undercut the Indian driver towards the second part of the race.
After starting in pole position, it would have been bitter for Maini to lose out on this win.
The 25 year old said:
“I think overall I was very happy with everything. I think we did a great first stint, and we did a great pit stop, great in lap, just the out lap could have been a bit better.
“Otherwise I wouldn’t change anything the team and I did that race and I was very proud of us.
“Obviously sometimes it doesn’t go your way, but I feel like we deserved that win. But also Noel has been quite unlucky the last few rounds.
“What goes around, comes around. I think our luck is coming and our time is also coming. We just keep pushing forward.”
Maini finished 0.887 seconds behind the race leader when the chequered flag was waved at the end of Lap 37. He continued to fight for this place but proved no match against the Campos Racing driver.
His pace was strong, but he explained the challenging aspects of the sport, especially when some drivers are so equally skilled:
“I think he had some issues with his breaks but today I think we had the best car.
“Me and Rafa [Câmara] had probably the best pace, but at the end of the day, we three were very close on pace all weekend.
“When you’re so close, a small little bit of luck can change your weekend and Noel was in P2 and fell his way this time and that’s alright.”
This is the ART Grand Prix driver’s fourth season in F2 but the first with the team for the 2026 season. Losing to someone who is in their rookie season can bring some questions into mind, but Maini continued to explain that this is just the nature of racing:
“What can I say? We had a six second lead, we had the fastest lap on the second stint and P2. In the end, it’s racing.
“I’ve been through my fair share of disappointment and this isn’t really one because I know that knowing F2, anything could have happen. I could have finished 11th, I’m happy to get the points and I’m sure that it will come around.
“I think today has probably been my strongest performance and the team’s strongest performance this year, and mine probably in Formula 2. The pace we showed was really good and we’ve gone forward with the car and we’ve changed a few things and it seems to be clicking.
“Like you said, there’s a lot of aspects to consistency. For sure, I’m striving to be more consistent but also in F2, there’s many things out of your control.
“In the end, I’ve found a really nice home here in ART and I think we’re just going to keep building and hopefully give more Feature Race wins.”
While Maini keeps his thoughts positive, five rounds remain in the calendar for him to show exactly what kind of performance he is capable of. With two of these races under threat due to the conflict in the Middle East, the end of the season could be finalised with multiple possibilities.
He can only hope that some good luck stays with him into the summer break.
Formula 2 now heads into its summer break before returning again in Monza on the 4th to the 6th of September.
Image: Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images
