Maserati MSG Racing were looking to continue their momentum from Jeddah as Formula E returned to racing in Miami. The weekend held much promise, showcased with Stoffel Vandoorne’s strong qualifying performance. Unfortunately, bad luck got in the way of a good result and the team took no points away from the weekend.
Stoffel was looking to extract maximum out of the car along with Jake Hughes who, although struggling a little in comparison to Stoffel around the Homestead-Miami International Speedway, was still feeling good ahead of qualifying.
Margins were incredible tight in Group A, where both Stoffel and Jake were qualifying. Being off the pace by just over four tenths of a second sadly saw Jake out of the group stages, which was tough for the Brit to take having been so fractionally off the leading lap time.
Stoffel’s Group A time put him 0.040s behind Porsche’s Antonio Felix Da Costa who topped the group, earning him second in the group stage and a ticket into the Quarter Final Duels. He was up against Andretti’s Jake Dennis and gave the flying lap everything he had. It wasn’t quite enough to beat Dennis, but the 1:23.566 was the second fastest of all drivers relegated from the Quarter Finals, placing him sixth on the grid.
As usual, the race became all about strategy, with both Stoffel and Jake running different races to extract the most out of their starting positions. Stoffel’s Attack Mode usage saw him climb up to third, looking set to bring Maserati MSG Racing another podium. He got stuck in the wrong racing pack, which dampened his chances for a podium, but Stoffel was still in a good place to bring home a decent haul of points.
Jake focused on energy saving in the start, biding his time to pull a big energy advantage on his competitors. This put him in a great position at the end of the race, looking like he was going to convert his backrow start into a top four finish.
But the team’s luck ran out when Jake became tangled in an incident with DS PENSKE’s Max Guenther and Jaguar’s Mitch Evans. Looking to pass Jake, everything bottle necked at the Attack Mode Turn 4 chicane and Guenther went straight into the back of the Maserati Tipo Folgore. Evans joined the incident with nowhere to go, causing the sole red flag of the race with Jake the only retiree of the collision.
It was a quick clean up, leaving four racing laps to go, but Stoffel’s earlier brilliant Attack Mode strategy came back to haunt him. Now being in a pack of cars, most of which still had an Attack Mode to use, he was a sitting duck as his second Attack Mode had majority been lost to the red flag.
Maserati MSG Racing will regroup and get ready to go again as Formula E heads to Europe, not only for the first European race of the season but for the team’s home race in Monaco. For the first time a double header, Maserati MSG Racing will be looking to put out the best performance, extract the maximum from the cars and bring home a decent haul of points in front of a home crowd and team partners.
Jake Hughes, Driver, Maserati MSG Racing: “It’s a real shame to end the weekend with a DNF because I really think we were on for a good result. One lap pace wasn’t our strength this weekend - we’ll look over exactly what happened for me in qualifying because starting at the back in a Formula E race is never ideal. But in the race, to see that we have the pace and strategy to climb the grid, be in a position for a top five finish or possibly more, that’s really positive. The team did a great job of executing the energy saving strategy and I was in a really good position in the closing stages and I really think a lot of points were on offer. That’s why it’s so frustrating, or more frustrating, when you’re taken out by another driver. Sure, that’s motorsport and sometimes things don’t go your way, but it’s gutting to leave so many points that I really thought were ours on the table. There are still a lot of positives to take away from this weekend, and that makes me really excited for the next round in Monaco.”
Stoffel Vandoorne, Driver, Maserati MSG Racing: “From FP one our focus was on finding the perfect setup around this new circuit. It was a positive surprise to have such a strong result in qualifying, giving me some confidence going into the race. We were in a good position at the start, and knew points could be on the cards if we played the strategy right. From lights out the race was tricky, as Formula E races tend to be. So many cars together at the start, it can get chaotic and it’s important to keep your nose clean through the first few laps. We managed to get up into the top three, starting to use our Attack Mode strategy to good effect, but we got slightly too focused on the wrong competitors. It saw us stuck in the wrong pack, fighting with the wrong people, which put us on the back foot. I was still confident we could end the race with decent points, but I got unlucky with the safety car and that put an end to our progress. Albeit no points, we’ve learnt a lot this weekend. We’ll take it all forwards to Monaco where we’ll come back in better shape.”
Cyril Blais, Team Principal, Maserati MSG Racing: “With our strong starting position thanks to Stoffel, coming away with no points is not the result we were hoping for. Things were going well, especially for Jake who knew he’d have to play a different strategy to get in the points starting from the back. It was a good strategy: saving energy at the beginning and getting an energy advantage for the end of the race. He had one of the highest remaining energies in the closing stages of the race and could have certainly had a top four finish. Stoffel had a trickier race, getting stuck in the wrong pack, but he still looked on for good points. Unfortunately, Jake got taken out – nothing he could have done – and so this potentially good result was taken away from us. To add a bit more sting, the safety car and red flag caused by Jake’s incident neutralised Stoffel’s second Attack Mode, leaving him with his hands tied at the restart. From our promising start and how the race was unfolding we were really looking good to bring home points with both cars, but it simply didn’t go our way. We’ll regroup for the next race, work hard and get ready to bounce back in Monaco.”
Maria Conti, Head of Maserati Corse: “Despite the race results and the bad luck we’ve had today, we’re proud of the hard work and dedication shown by our drivers and team in Miami. Many lessons have been learned, but the Miami round was nevertheless significant for us. The American market plays a major strategic role for our Brand, and it was exciting to race surrounded by an enthusiastic audience of Maserati customers and fans. Now, we’re already looking forward to the next event: competing in Monaco in early May in an exciting double-header on the world's most famous street circuit. It will be a unique opportunity to revive Maserati's passion and competitive DNA on the roads of Monaco, where motorsport history has been made. We can’t wait!”
NUMBERS
Stoffel Vandoorne
Free Practice One // P15
Free Practice Two // P10
Qualifying // P6 [1:23.566, Quarter Final Duels]
Race // P14
Positions Gained // -8
Fastest Lap // 1:28.183
Championship Position // P14 [16 points]
Jake Hughes
Free Practice One // P14
Free Practice Two // P14
Qualifying // P21 [1:25.359, P11 Group A]
Race // DNF
Positions Gained // 0
Fastest Lap // 1:30.367
Championship Position // P6 [27 points]
Maserati MSG Racing
Championship Position // P6 [43 points]
