How Indians performed over the weekend (October 20-22)

Best result: Third

Maini qualified eighth for the weekend’s third and final race, which meant chances of finishing on the podium were quite low.

However, the 17-year-old was least interested in the odds; he got off the line well which allowed him to jump Leonardo Lorandi and Sebastian Fernandes Wahbeh on the opening lap.

He then sneaked past Enzo Fittipaldi, grandson of F1 legend Emerson, and gained two places after Artem Petrov and teammate Job Van Uitert crashed out on lap 6.

The Bangalore-born driver later got overtaken by Ian Rodrigues Wright, but was promoted back up to the third slot after race winner Marcus Armstrong was handed a 25-second penalty.

Following this result, Maini ended his sophomore Italian F4 season in ninth place with two podium finishes to boast about.

Best result: 10th

Three Mahindra riders finished inside the points during another wet and shortened Moto3 race at Australia’s Phillip Island circuit.

Factory-supported Aspar team’s Lorenzo Dalla Porta led the pack, equalling his career-best result in 10th. The Spaniard dropped from 14th to 21st on the opening lap, but slowly crawled his way back up the back.

Peugeot’s Jakub Kornfeil was next up in 12th on a rebadged Mahindra MGP30, while CIP’s Manuel Pagliani grabbed the final championship point in 15th.

Marco Bezzecchi, who scored Mahindra’s first podium of the year at the previous round in Japan, ran as high as second before crashing out on the eighth lap.

Neither of the Super Formula season finale’s two races were run due to a upcoming typhoon in Japan.

This turned out to be a severe blow for Narain Karthikeyan, who was third fastest in FP1 and had qualified in top 10 for one of the races, despite constant red flags and treacherous weather conditions preventing drivers from setting a clean lap.

He ended the season without a single point on board, but statistics hardly provide a fair picture of his performance.