On Sunday, September 15, Kush Maini, the Indian F2 driver, survives a life-threatening crash at the Azerbaijan GP after his Invicta Racing car failed to launch off the line at the start of the race. Since the 23-year-old was in fifth place on the grid, a lot of cars behind him managed to avoid a collision, but Dutch-German driver Oliver Goethe and Spaniard Josep Maria Marti were unable to do so, causing a big crash on the start-finish straight, which immediately led to a red flag being brought out to stop the Azerbaijan GP.
The Invicta Racing car of Kush Maini was completely mangled, but luckily, he managed to walk away from the accident unscathed, which was also the case for Oliver Goethe and Josep Maria Marti. After missing out on scoring points in the sprint race a day prior in Baku, Kush Maini had qualified in fifth place for Sunday’s F2 Azerbaijan GP, but his race came to an end after his car went upside down on track at the very start.
Here is the clip of Kush Maini’s crash in Baku:
Kush Maini is currently in 11th place in F2 driver’s championship standings with Invicta Racing
Following a delay of more than 30 minutes, which saw the Baku City Circuit being cleared of debris from the Kush Maini crash, the F2 Azerbaijan GP began. The race continued with the timer counting down the minutes instead of a lap counter, which meant that all the drivers took the opportunity to make their first pit stop in the race to get their tyres changed.
The F2 Azerbaijan GP was eventually won by Dutch driver Richard Verschoor of Trident, who stayed ahead of Frenchman Victor Martins of ART and Italian Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Prema Racing. Notably, Andrea Kimi Antonelli is set to replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes in 2025 after the multi-time F1 champion leaves for Ferrari.
Moreover, Kush Maini, who started the F2 season incredibly well this year, is currently in 11th place in the driver’s championship standings after a string of tough results, while his teammate Gabriel Bortoleto leads the championship.