Maserati MSG Racing enters new era in Mexico City

SPORTSAREENA.comFebruary 4, 2023

31 3 minutes read

Maserati MSG Racing accelerated right into a new era for Formula E on the Mexico City E-Prix, with the workforce narrowly lacking out on the highest 10 on the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

Facing the daybreak of Gen3, drivers Edoardo Mortara and Maximilian Günther gained invaluable perception in the course of the Season 9 opener and confirmed promising preliminary tempo following an encouraging pre-season take a look at.

Maserati MSG Racing: Race weekend

A difficult qualifying session – which noticed each drivers fall wanting the Duel levels – left the duo dealing with an uphill restoration in the race, in which they began from sixteenth and seventeenth.

Edo superior to fifteenth on the opening lap by overtaking McLaren’s Rene Rast, though the race was shortly paused when a collision for Robin Frijns introduced out the Safety Car.

Action was resumed on lap 5 however was once more halted one lap later when Jaguar’s Sam Bird stopped on observe with a technical failure. The discipline took to inexperienced flag operating once more on lap 9.

Edo and Max overtook a penalised Dan Ticktum in the course of the restart, whereas the latter additionally handed Rast, who activated Attack Mode, for fifteenth. Photo by Maserati MSG Racing

On lap 18, an unlucky spin and collision attributable to a snap of understeer compelled Edo to retire, leaving Max because the workforce’s sole runner for the rest of the race.

With a late Attack Mode activation, the German pilot made good progress to threaten for factors in the closing laps and overtook DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne on the ultimate tour to complete eleventh.

Formula E’s ninth season will proceed on January twenty seventh and twenty eighth, with a double-header occasion on the Riyadh Street Circuit in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Diriyah.

In their phrases

“It was a difficult day but in motorsport, you learn the most from your bad days – not your good ones. A poor qualifying put us on the back foot, but in the race, we were able to come back strong, with Max fighting from 17th to 11th and finishing just outside the points. Edo was showing really strong pace during the race, and his incident in Turn One was unfortunate. It’s a shame as his pace was great. We have a lot to learn and there is a lot of data that we need to process from this weekend so that we can be in a better position for the next race in Diriyah.”

James Rossiter, Team Principal, Maserati MSG Racing

“This weekend wasn’t our best. After the pace we had in Valencia, I found it difficult to find a good rhythm in the car, especially over one lap. I managed to come back in the race and until the crash, I think we were in a good position, especially with our pace and on the energy side. I found it quite challenging to find a good balance on the tyres, and a snap of oversteer caused me to go off in the first corner. Overall, there were few positives to take, but we will examine our data closely, understand what happened and come back for Diriyah.”

Edoardo Mortara, Driver, Maserati MSG Racing

“This weekend has been tough for us as a team. With the high altitude it was quite difficult to get the tyres into the sweet spot which impacted our pace in qualifying. Starting from the back, our pace in the race was much better and our efficiency and strategy proved to be competitive. I was able to move forward several places, but unfortunately, we were just short of the top 10. We’ve gained a lot of data from this weekend, and now, we just need to examine our performance, focus on our progress, and come back stronger in Riyadh.”

Maximilian Günther, Driver, Maserati MSG Racing

“Maserati is back to racing and although the result was not what we were hoping for, it still made the Mexico City E-Prix exciting and memorable for all of us. Motorsport is unpredictable. First and foremost, we’re relieved Edo is ok and what a competitive race for Max, as he fought from 17th to finish just outside the points in 11th. This first race has been a great learning experience and we now focus our attention and determination on Saudi Arabia.”

Giovanni Sgro, Head of Maserati Corse