Barcelona, Spain -- Indian driver Arjun Maini is 'doing the right things' to get into Formula One, says Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner. Maini, who is contracted with Haas as a development driver, was recently signed up by Trident Motorsport for the 2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship starting on April 6 in Bahrain.

Last year, Maini became the first Indian to win a GP3 series race. He's also only the third Indian after Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok to be part of a Formula One team. Mentored by Chandhok, Maini moved mid-season in 2016 to GP3 after a full season in European F3.

Speaking exclusively to ESPN during F1's pre-season testing at the Circuit de Catalunya, Steiner said that while breaking into Formula One can be tough, the 20-year-old has both age and pace on his side. "He's very promising. People cannot forget that he won a GP3 series. It's always difficult to get into Formula One, but I think he's doing the right things. Hopefully he's got a good team this year with Trident which could get him some success in F2. We think he's got talent to do it, but between having talent and getting into Formula One, there's a big gap. You need a little bit of luck, you need a lot of talent and we hope we can help him to get it done."

Haas made its Formula One debut last year and signed Bengaluru-based Maini and American Santino Ferucci as development drivers. Steiner, though, says he isn't rushing into making plans yet for next year for both the rookie drivers yet. "No, no, absolutely not. You always watch them. Race car drivers know the only thing they will be judged on is their talent which comes out through good results. As I said I hope the car and the team they're run in is good. It was very impressive for a young kid like Arjun to win the race last year. It's very exciting you know."