The Making Of Mahaveer Raghunathan

Mahaveer Raghunathan was eleven when he first climbed into a kart in Chennai. It was not great family plan or another lineage story that comes with other racers. He just liked speed. Bikes cars, anything fast, you name it.

In a country like India, karting happened to be the only way a child could get close to the feeling, and so Mahaveer took to it instinctively. And what began as curiosity hardened quickly into purpose.

India, at the time, was not built for racing careers. Karting existed, but it ended there. There was no natural progression into single-seaters, no domestic ladder that led from a local circuit to a global grid. If you wanted to race seriously, you had to leave.

Raghunathan did, first went someplace else in Asia and then eventually to Europe, still in his teens. He arrived at circuits where other drivers had grown up, tested endlessly, learned every corner by muscle memory. He had to learn in real time, in public, while competing against boys who had been groomed for this world since childhood.

However, the climb was rapid. Italian Formula 4. European Formula 3. By 2019, at twenty, he reached Formula 2—the final rung before Formula One. It is where careers are either validated or quietly end. The cars are unforgiving. The grid is stacked. Every mistake is visible. For Raghunathan, that season unravelled. Errors compounded., penalties followed, races slipped away, and he finished with a single point.

In motorsport, failure is never private. Every lap is timed, every result archived. A bad season becomes a permanent part of your record.

Raghunathan could have drifted out of the sport then, another name that rose too quickly and fell just as fast. Instead, he stepped back. He tested. He spent long hours in simulators. He watched data, studied his driving, stripped the process down. “F2 showed me that I need to improve a lot,” he says now, at the age of 27 today, without defensiveness.

In 2021, he tested a Formula One car for Alfa Romeo. In 2023, he drove a McLaren.

But it was GT racing that offered him a new shape of career. Endurance racing is slower in rhythm and harsher in demand. Here, you share a car and you race for hours. You manage traffic, fatigue, teammates.

In 2025, Raghunathan joined AF Corse for the Italian GT Championship. It is one of Europe’s most competitive grids, filled with factory drivers from Ferrari, Lamborghini, BMW. Under that pressure, he delivered. This season, Mahaveer walked away with three wins, and eight podiums out of twelve races – including victories at Vallelunga and Monza. By season’s end, he finished sixth overall.

Reeling from a great season, Mahaveer sat down wot chat with Esquire India, andspoke about his childhood, his career, and what he’s hungry for next.

Excerpts from a conversation.

Was it love at first sight for you with racing?

Yeah, I actually liked cars and speed a lot from a very young age—whether it was bikes or cars, I always loved the speed factor. It gave me a lot of thrill. That’s how I started karting at a young age, because that was really the only possibility at that age. I slowly, gradually moved up from karting, started doing well in national championships, then moved to Asia, then to single-seaters, and so on.

When you were growing up and wanted to compete internationally, what were some of the hurdles you faced entering the sport at such a young age—especially in India, where the ecosystem is still developing?

The main hurdle was the lack of testing opportunities in India, especially with single-seaters. For karting, yes, there were karting tracks and so on. But with single-seaters—cars like F4 or F3—there were no such cars at that point, even though the tracks were there. So for testing, I always had to go to Europe or Malaysia. Since I couldn’t test in India, I had to train myself outside. That was the main difficulty—getting up to speed immediately in Europe.

Do you think that gap has been bridged today?

Yeah, it’s improved a lot. There are Formula 4 championships happening in India now and many more driving opportunities. That’s why a lot of drivers are now taking part in Europe or Asia. It’s grown a lot compared to when I started—it’s a big jump from that time.

You’ve had a strong season on the 2025 Italian GT grid. How does that feel?

It feels very good because I had a lot of pressure racing with a top team like AF Corse. They’ve always been winning races, so I had to perform well. To handle that pressure and perform was very satisfying—it showed that all my hard work and effort were finally paying off. It was a very good year. I’m very happy about it.

The Italian GT grid is stacked with WEC and GT talent. Who’s one driver you love going wheel-to-wheel with?

My teammates were very competitive. For example, Lorenzo Ferrari or David Vidales—both factory Ferrari drivers who have raced in various championships. Going wheel-to-wheel against them and performing against them in qualifying and races was very challenging, and it made me a much better driver than before. Also, the Lamborghini and BMW cars were all factory entries, with drivers from GT World Challenge and some from WEC. That really helped me get the best out of myself and drive much better than before. It forced me to improve a lot and dig deep, which is very important for my progression.

Pro-Am isn’t easy. How is the dynamic with Lorenzo Ferrari evolving?

Yeah, with Lorenzo and my teammate Riccardo Ponzio, we could all perform very well. So it was a good season. There were many cars in the Pro-Am category, but we also competed for the overall category. We got one win and finished P4 in the overall championship and, of course, P1 in Pro-Am. So it was basically the same as competing for the overall, because most of the cars entered were Pro-Am as well. In our mind, it didn’t make any difference—we were competing for the top, for the overall win or overall podium. So that was really good for us.

Are you a driver who relies more on feel, or are you mostly data-driven?

I think now I’m a driver who relies on feeling. Before, I was relying too much on data maybe. But now, after this year and during this year, I’m a driver who relies on feeling because the data can’t replicate what’s on track during that period. Even a slight difference in weather will make a huge impact. So now I’m a driver who trusts the feel and my gut feeling and drives the car with feel rather than using too much data, because that helped me a lot to improve from before.

Do you believe talent is more important, or is persistence more crucial in reaching where you want to be as a driver?

I think persistence is more important, and to learn from others—that’s the main thing. You can always improve and do well. Of course, talent is needed, but after a certain point, to consistently perform at the front, you need the mental ability to deal with pressure and all these things, which requires a lot of persistence rather than just having talent alone.

You’ve tested GP2, F3, GP3, F2. Which series truly shaped your race craft?

I think F2 was very important in shaping myself because it was very hard. So I had to learn a lot from that, and then I started working very hard in the simulator and everything. It was a very important year, which showed me that I need to improve a lot. And I’m glad I did it. So yeah, it was a very important season.

During F2, you faced a lot of criticism. What kept you going? What stopped you from breaking under that pressure?

The main thing was that I always had confidence and trust that I could improve and I’ll be able to do it. So I was just focusing on my own self rather than anything else out of my control. I knew that once I started doing well, everything would change and all the criticism would go away.

What’s the most underrated skill a GT driver must have?

Race craft, because the race is so long and there are always lots of wheel-to-wheel battles. Of course, qualifying is important, but even if you do a very good qualifying lap, you can still miss out in the race if you don’t adapt to these things. Also, contact with other cars is common in GTs because the cars don’t break so easily. So you need to have the aggression to do it and not be scared to fight with other cars around.

Do you live in Italy most of the time now, or are you still based in India?

During the season, I live in Italy. But once the season gets over, I come back to India because there’s quite a long break until March or April. I still go for testing, but basically, I live in India.

Being the only Indian in the championship—does that feel like a moment of pride?

Of course, it’s a proud feeling representing India in the European championships, but it also brings pressure for me to do well. That’s a normal part of it. I’m glad I have that pressure because that’s what you’re there for.

You must have a pre-race ritual you never skip. What do you do to get yourself in the zone?

Physically, I do some warm-ups—just normal, basic stuff. But mentally, I see a lot of videos before the races: how the first corner will be, how it was in previous years, just to position my car well and things like that. But after a certain point, you can’t prepare so much. You just need to be confident, aggressive, and go for it. Because if you prepare too much, then you lose the feel and the focus for that moment.

What’s the long-term dream? Five or ten years from now, where do you see yourself?

I hope to be a driver who has won more championships, won more races, and then finally reach Formula One.