Mumbai, Oct 24 : Upcoming Indian race driver Kush Maini has joined the Alpine Academy, the young driver programme of the Formula 1 team, BWT Alpine F1 Team. Kush Maini, the FIA Formula 2 driver, is the latest addition to the Alpine Academy. "BWT Alpine F1 Team is pleased to announce that FIA Formula 2 driver Kush Maini has joined the Alpine Academy," the Formula 1 team announced on Tuesday. The 23-year-old driver will join the growing Alpine Academy line-up which currently features drivers such as Alpine F1 Team Reserve Driver Jack Doohan and 2022 FIA Formula 3 Champion Victor Martins, and has a host of successful graduates including current F1 drivers Zhou Guanyu and Oscar Piastri, and Olli Caldwell, who currently competes for Alpine Elf Endurance Team. As the latest addition to the team's young driver development programme, Maini will benefit from the guidance and support of both the Academy's fleet of staff and the wider BWT Alpine F1 Team, as well as access to the team's state-of-the-art facilities at its Formula 1 base in Enstone, Oxfordshire, the team informed. Currently competing in his rookie FIA Formula 2 season with Campos Racing, Kush Maini secured his first F2 podium with a third-place finish in the Sprint Race in Australia and his best Qualifying result of second at Silverstone. The Bangalore-born Indian driver currently sits just outside of the top 10 in the championship standings having secured 11 points-scoring finishes across the season. 'I am super excited to be joining the Alpine Academy. It's a dream come true to be associated with a team like BWT Alpine F1 Team, where I can learn and grow to hopefully one day be ready to take the step into Formula 1. A massive thank you to Alpine for believing in me and giving me this opportunity,' Kush Maini was quoted as saying in a release on Tuesday. 'We are happy to welcome Kush into the Alpine Academy. He is a young talent who we believe has strong potential and will be a great asset to our driver development programme," said Julian Rouse, Interim Sporting Director, BWT Alpine F1 Team. "The Alpine Academy will enter its ninth year in 2024 and currently features nine drivers of eight nationalities, spanning four different series from FIA Formula 2 through to European Karting. The continual expansion of the Academy's talent pool runs in parallel to the expansion of our facilities at Enstone with the development of our new state-of-the-art training and testing facilities, the AHPC, underway,' he added. /IANS