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There is a romantic version of becoming a racing driver. You have the talent, you have the passion, you win enough, keep moving up the ladder, win championship after championship, and eventually make it to the top of the sport. A neat little ladder. Simple.

Well, not quite.

Because there’s this unusual hurdle between “I think I’m good at this’ and ‘I think I can make a career out of this’ You need talent, patience, discipline, resilience, results, strong work ethic, a good team around you, willingness to spend an unreasonable amount of time away from friends and family, travel endlessly, adapt quickly, handle disappointment, keep learning, keep improving, deal with setbacks, make sacrifices, have your entire weekend ruined by a tenth of a second and still call it character development. Because frustration is just motivation waiting for better PR.

Yet, there is one more thing to consider, one that Jerry Maguire will probably have something to say about.

So, what does the road actually look like? For most drivers, it starts with karting.  In India, you first need to obtain a competition licence through the Federation of Motorsport Clubs of India (FMSCI), with requirements depending on your age and category. From there, the pathway typically moves into single-seater categories such as Formula 4. Drivers can take to karting as young as eight, meaning the foundations of a professional racing career can be laid remarkably early.

You would think if someone is good enough to compete, someone pays them to do it. Except, well, in racing, you pay for the opportunity to prove that you're good enough.        

The seat has to be paid for. So do the race entries, the tyres, fuel, testing, coaching, mechanics and pretty much everything that gets a driver from the paddock to the starting grid. And that is before you account for everything around racing: long journeys, hotels, transport, early morning starts, schoolwork, packing, unpacking, recovering from one race while preparing for the next.

This is where racing starts to turn the usual idea of a sporting career on its head. You are not earning your way up the ladder. You are paying for the chance to climb it. It is a little strange if you think about it. There’s no guarantee. You are making a long-term career investment in someone who has homework due on Monday.

The costs only become steeper as the driver moves up the ladder. The broader trajectory is difficult to ignore: the faster the car, the higher the bill. For Indian drivers, progressing further can mean looking beyond the country for competition and development. More flights, more nights at hotels living out of a suitcase, and inevitably, more money. Lots of money. Ambition may be limitless. Bank accounts, rather less so.              

So, the money has to come from somewhere. In India, though motorsports may have passionate followers, a racer is competing for brand attention in a market dominated by sports with enormous, well-established fan bases. A trophy can prove you can race; it does not automatically give a brand an audience. Without an established audience, a young racer asks a brand to believe in a story still being written. A driver also has to build an audience, create content, tell their story and become something brands want to put their name behind.

The thing is, you need money to keep racing and build the results and visibility sponsors want, while sponsors often want the visibility that comes with an established career. A rather expensive chicken-and-egg problem. Unfortunately, that leaves drivers with genuine talent and potential unable to take the next step, because the cost of progressing eventually becomes unsustainable.

The question is what happens next. As motorsports in India continue to grow, will more pathways emerge for drivers to make their way through the sport, or will the jump from promising talent to professional racer be the hardest to make? One would hope the sport has outgrown this problem rather than passing it on to the next generation. After all, the best time to recognise potential is before everyone has a reason to believe in it. Perhaps then, the romantic version of becoming a driver will feel closer to reality. Cue Eye of the Tiger.

Q1. You’ve spent so much of your life around racing. What do you think the sport has given you that you wouldn’t have found anywhere else?
A. “Racing pushed me to my limits. When I was a kid in school, I didn’t have to push myself too hard to ace an exam. I had hobbies, but I didn’t care enough to become super good at them. Every time I step into the car, I’m trying to drive faster than last time, all while already operating at the highest level in the world. Through all the hardships, victories, highs and lows, I’ve become the best version of myself.”

Q2. What is it about racing that still keeps you coming back for more?
A. “On one hand, I love the balance between the technical and instinctive side. It’s a sport that’s both raw and insanely technical, which I find very appealing. On the other, I just love going fast. My life has revolved around doing things fast, so racing is the perfect sport for me.”

Q3. How has the driver you are today changed from the driver you were when you first started?
A. “I really struggled with pressure, overthinking, and anxiety when I was younger in racing. I saw overthinking as a way to avoid making mistakes and messing up. Nowadays, I’m not scared of failing; I race because I love it and I’m trying to master the craft.”

4. If you had to give someone who has never raced a car one lap to understand why you love this sport, which circuit would you take them to?
A. “I’d take them to Budapest. I love that circuit. In sector 1, my passenger can get a good feel for straight-line speed, heavy braking, and high-speed corners. However, the flow state you achieve with all the medium-speed corners in succession in sector 2 will be life-changing. Sector 3 goes back to slower, longer corners, which illustrates the art of manipulating weight transfer. All in all, for 1 lap, it’s an experience.”

5. What does a perfect lap feel like from inside the car?
A. “There’s a certain feeling you get that I can’t describe. When you pair the perfect compromise of each corner, optimising the grip and width of the track, and the grip potential in all phases of the car, it just tickles your brain in a great way. I would make a direct comparison, but I don’t know if it’s age-appropriate.”

6. Has there been a race where you learned more from losing than you ever did from winning?
A. “I always learn more from losing than winning. In one race in 2024, I started pole and finished 3rd. I completely cooked the start, but I learned so much about myself and what led to that moment. 1 week later, I started pole and won the race. All I learned was how to celebrate and spray champagne, two things I already knew how to do.”

Q7. What’s one thing about the racing world that looks glamorous from the outside but really isn’t?
A. “Literally everything in between races. One weekend you’re racing sick cars, winning races, taking pictures with fans, and living life. The next week, you’re doing nothing but studying and training. I’m very grateful for what I have in my life. That being said, I’ve lost so much to be where I am today. It’s lonely at the top.”

Q8. If you could spend a week doing someone else’s job in the paddock, whose would you want to try?
A. Being a coach or engineer sounds fun. I’ve coached before, and I really enjoy it; I get invested and work hard to make things as clear and simple as possible for my driver. Being an engineer is also cool; I’m secretly a math/physics nerd, so that will be stimulating.”

Q9. What's something racing has made you unusually good at outside the car?
A. “Racing has made me good at getting good. I was always someone who could pick things up quickly, but racing accentuated that. When you haven’t been in a car for months and have a handful of push laps to figure a new track out, all while balancing being on the limit with crashing, it makes you good at picking things up quickly. It’s a very useful skill to me.”

Q10. What do you think a brand is really investing in when it backs a young racing driver?
A. “They’re not investing in the driver; they’re investing in the brand. They want their brand aligned not only with the results, but with the driver's story, passion, values, and energy. Of course they want to make a profit, but that comes from supporting a good character. People loved Iron Man because of Tony Stark.”

Q11. What's one mistake you made early in your career that you would try to save another young driver from making?
A. “Let racing make you free. Worrying about results imprisoned me. I didn’t drive as well, learn as much, or enjoy as much as I could. Overthinking is something I think many Indian kids struggle with, as did I. I let it paralyse me. I don’t anymore, and every metric has improved since.”

Q12. If you could put one Indian racing driver from any generation in your garage as your teammate for a season, who are you choosing and why?
A. “Kush Maini. He’s very experienced, especially in formula cars, and has raced in very competitive fields. I’d learn a lot from his work ethic and driving skill. Regardless, I don’t plan on being slower.”

Q13. What do you think Indian motorsport does well right now that doesn't get enough credit? And what's the one thing you think Indian motorsport still hasn't figured out?
A. “They make a lot of noise for good results. When I won a FRECA race last year, it was a great achievement, but it also went viral. I made 3 posts that totalled almost 200 thousand likes; got millions of views, gained 10k followers in days, and even made it into newspapers in Jodhpur. On the flip side, nobody cares if you don’t win. I get it: the point is to win, and that’s what gets the most attention. However, other nations support their drivers even when they’re going through rough patches or aren’t super special. It’s very easy to stick in the good times, and it’s hard to stick in the bad times. I believe India can do better in the bad times, but I could also try winning more often.”

Q14. If you could leave one thought with the young Indian drivers who are watching your journey today, what would you want them to hear?
A. “Love yourself enough that you give yourself the chance to live your dreams. I used to imagine loving someone so much I’d do anything for them. One day I made that person myself, and things changed.”

There has been plenty of buzz around Formula 1’s ‘Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities’, or ‘ADUO’. But what exactly is it, why has it caused so much friction, and what’s behind the memes?

ADUO is essentially a catch-up mechanism built into the 2026-2030 power unit regulations, designed to prevent a repeat of 2014, when Mercedes’ hybrid advantage left rivals playing catch-up for years.

At three points during the season, the FIA compares the performance of each manufacturer’s internal combustion engine, or ICE, using an ICE Performance Index. It considers factors including engine speed, input shaft torque and MGU-K power output.

Crucially, however, it does not measure the Energy Recovery System, or ERS. Battery deployment, energy harvesting and energy management are all outside the calculation. That means the manufacturer with the best overall power unit does not necessarily have the best ADUO score.

Under Article 4.3 of Appendix C5, manufacturers 2-4% behind the benchmark ICE receive one additional homologation upgrade for the current season and another for the following year. Those more than 4% behind receive two additional upgrades in each season, along with extra financial allowance and dyno testing hours.

The original review periods were altered after the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix reduced the 2026 calendar from 24 races to 22.

Mercedes entered 2026 widely regarded as having the strongest engine. Yet the first ADUO assessment, conducted after Monaco, declared Red Bull-Ford’s DM-01 the benchmark ICE.

Mercedes was placed 2-4% behind and received one upgrade, while Ferrari, Honda and Audi were more than 4% behind and received two each. Red Bull received nothing.

Red Bull questioned the result, with Laurent Mekies saying the team could not find data showing its engine was ahead of Mercedes. The FIA subsequently reviewed the data but stood by its calculation, with Red Bull still at least 2% ahead on ICE performance.

The second review, completed after Hungary, produced exactly the same result.

Red Bull’s social media team quickly turned the situation into a joke, posting memes aimed at the FIA before advertising its energy drink with: “Red Bull and ICE, what (a)duo.”

The irony is obvious. Red Bull appears to have the benchmark ICE according to the FIA, yet its results on track suggest otherwise. Max Verstappen summed it up at Monza, saying: “Apparently we do have the fastest engine.”

The final ADUO review runs from Zandvoort to Mexico City. If Red Bull remains the benchmark, the debate may shift from whether the data is correct to whether ADUO is measuring the right thing.

With ERS excluded from the calculation, the system may not fully reflect a 2026 power unit's real-world performance. And that could make the final assessment particularly important, not just for the rest of this season, but for how Ferrari, Audi and Honda approach their development heading into 2027.

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