Challenging race for Maserati MSG Racing in Jakarta

The Race In Numbers

Stoffel Vandoorne
Free Practice One // P17
Free Practice Two // P5
Qualifying // P14 [1:10.402, Group A]
Race // DNF
Positions Gained // N/A
Fastest Lap // 1:08.062
Championship Position // P13 [50 points]

Jake Hughes
Free Practice One // P16
Free Practice Two // P1
Qualifying // P18 [1:09.649, Group B]
Race // DNF
Positions Gained // N/A
Fastest Lap // 1:08.571
Championship Position // P15 [39 points]

Maserati MSG Racing
‍Championship Position // P8 [89 points]

The Report

The Jakarta E-Prix did not yield the results Maserati MSG Racing were hoping for as the race ended with a double DNF for both Jake Hughes and Stoffel Vandoorne.

The day started competitively, with both Jake and Stoffel having strong showings in the wet morning free practice session and looking good for qualifying. The competition was fierce in the group stages. Although being just off the pace of the leaders, neither Jake or Stoffel progressed further than the group stages.

With high temperatures being a critical performance factor, it was all about correct management in the race to climb up the field. Jake and Stoffel had clean starts, not gaining too many places but getting straight into their respective strategies.

The plan was to go long in the race, manage the two Maserati Tipo Folgores battery and tyre temperatures, then unleash the eight minutes of Attack Mode in the closing stages of the race to capitalise on any competitors that had to go into “management mode”. It was going to plan until Jake suffered a terminal battery temperature alarm which effectively ended his race.

This brought out the safety car. Stoffel was hoping to capitalise on this, with the grid closing up and still having six minutes of Attack Mode left to use. But it just wasn’t to be for Maserati MSG Racing today. Stoffel unfortunately lost control of his car and crashed into a wall. He was OK, despite the incident but it brought an end to any point scoring potential for the team in Jakarta.

Maserati MSG Racing now looks forwards to the final four races of the season – double headers in Berlin and London. There is still work to be done with qualifying performance, but the team hopes to end Season 11 on a high.

In Their Words

Jake Hughes, Driver, Maserati MSG Racing: “It was a disappointing end to the weekend. Both cars not finishing the race is never good to see, but it was a shame because I think we had good pace today. In all conditions, topping FP2 in the wet, and in the dry I was one corner away from getting into the duels. Ok, it’s if, buts and maybes, but it shows that the potential of the car that the team gave me was there. In the race, starting where we did and on the strategy we were on, we knew we’d be biasing towards the second half of the race. Before we had a chance to get there and see our strategy in full action, we broke down. We have to understand what happened. Most of all, I’m happy Stoff is alright.”

Stoffel Vandoorne, Driver, Maserati MSG Racing: “It was a difficult weekend, ending with an unfortunate DNF in the race with a big crash. I don’t know exactly what happened, but we had a lot of alarms on the dash and we lost the brakes. The brake pedal went to the floor, and I had a big frontal impact. Fortunately, I feel OK so that’s the good thing. But it was a difficult weekend all round; tricky conditions to manage, we didn’t have the pace at the right time, and the track conditions were kind of unacceptable for Formula E with so much dust on track. It was a very hard situation to manage, but I feel like we need a reset now and hopefully come back stronger in Berlin.”

Cyril Blais, Team Principal, Maserati MSG Racing: “Both cars not finishing the race is never something we want, especially after all the hard work put in by everyone for this incredibly physically demanding race. To say it’s a real disappointment is an understatement. We need to fully analyse what went wrong this weekend. We will take the time before Berlin, regroup, and get to a stronger place ahead of the final two double headers of the season.”

Maria Conti, Head of Maserati Corse: “Today, the conditions were challenging, but we attempted to approach the race with a good mentality, as always. Luck wasn’t on our side today and it sadly wasn’t enough. We will take learnings from this race to approach the upcoming final part of the season, to take our opportunities in all the remaining rounds and be able to come closer to the leading group.”

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