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Stoffel Vandoorne
Free Practice One // P3
Qualifying // P7 [1:07.990, Duels, Quarter Finals]
Race // P12
Positions Gained // -5
Fastest Lap //
Championship Position // P14 [62 points]
Jake Hughes
Free Practice One // P22
Qualifying // P17 [1:08.925, Group B]
Race // P17
Positions Gained // 0
Fastest Lap //
Championship Position // P16 [40 points]
Maserati MSG Racing
Championship Position // P9 [102 points]
London ended with a race that could have been as Stoffel Vandoorne and Jake Hughes ended outside the points. Both were racing in strong point-finishing positions until incidents took them out of contention.
Jake had a difficult start to the day, missing out on the practice session as the team completed a battery change following an electrical issue. The team worked hard to get him back on track for qualifying, but Jake couldn’t quite find the groove he had yesterday. Unable to progress to the Duels, he took P17 on the starting grid.
Stoffel, once again, found the rhythm of the ExCeL and was able to secure a time that was fourth quickest in Group B. He met CUPRA KIRO’s Dan Ticktum in the fourth quarter-final duel, but a small mistake cost him a chance to move into the semis.
It was a clean start to the race, with both Jake and Stoffel gaining a few positions off the line. Stoffel got into a close battle with Ticktum but the Brit just managed to negate the attack, holding onto P6. Both Jake and Stoffel then settled into a long-stint race, planning on waiting to use their Attack Modes in the second half of the E-Prix, managing their energy through the first half to try and build an advantage on their competitors.
It would have gone to plan with Stoffel comfortably in the top ten, if not for an incident in the first few laps that cost him his front wing. The effect on the car was too much, losing the Belgian too much time, and he was forced to pit, giving up track position. With the London ExCeL being notoriously difficult to overtake at, this really put a dent in his points chances.
A couple of safety cars had brought Jake right into the top ten fight. Still yet to take an Attack Mode, he was P7 and looking to capitalise when he got his extra power. Unfortunately, it was a puncture that saw Jake having to dive into the pits, falling right to the back of the grid and undoing all his hard work.
Some post-race penalties were applied, but it wasn’t enough to get Maserati MSG Racing back into the points. It was a shame for the team and drivers to end the season without scoring, but they will reassess over the season break to come back even stronger in Season 12.
Jake Hughes, Driver, Maserati MSG Racing: “This weekend has been pretty much, in a nutshell, our season capsulated in a weekend. We had very good pace all weekend, very good on energy today, very good strategy today, which I think we called really well, then unfortunately we got taken out by other cars. Completely out of our control, and I feel like this has happened at least six or seven times this year. It’s the end of the season now so there’s not another one to pick ourselves back up for. I’ll go into the off season with the knowledge that I have driven very well this year, and I know the team have done a very good job as well. We could have easily been sat here, right now, on at least double the points we have now. It’s frustrating that we couldn’t show what we could do this year because of situations our of our control. That’s racing, so I’ll go into the off season knowing I’ve been driving better than ever.”
Stoffel Vandoorne, Driver, Maserati MSG Racing: “It was a difficult one. We had front wing damage pretty early on so we had to pit to change the front nose. It was chaos at the front, everyone bumping into each other. With it being the last race of the year everyone was a bit hot headed, trying to achieve something. All the starts and stops that happen in the first few corners anyway, the road just stopped in front of me and it took the front wing off. From then on it was just hoping for a safety car to bunch up the field again. That happened, but even with that we struggled for pace, were involved in a messy fight. I was struggling to make a difference with the others. We got back to 12th and in the end it wasn’t good enough. It’s a shame to finish the season like that when we had such potential from the good qualifying.”
Cyril Blais, Team Principal, Maserati MSG Racing: “That’s the story of our season: what could have been. In the end, it didn’t materialise. A puncture for one car, forced to box and out of contention, and Stoffel had damage, somebody clipped his wing. We had to box both cars and with track position so crucial here that was the end of the fight. We weren’t rewarded for the hard work of the team this weekend. Glimpses of performance but not enough consistency this season. This doesn’t take anything away from the incredible hard work and dedication shown by the entire team throughout the season. We’re not where we wanted to be, and we will use that as motivation next year and try to push forwards.”
Maria Conti, Head of Maserati Corse: “After an intense year full of wonderful moments, such as the victory in Tokyo and the podium in Jeddah, along with other more challenging ones, we have ended our third season in Formula E aware that it has completed an important journey. We’ve learned many lessons and been more thorough in the transfer of technologies from the track to the road in the 100% electric Maserati Folgore range. We are also proud that we have furthered the Trident's glorious trophy haul in motorsport. Maserati has almost a century of history in racing, and every race weekend is a new chapter for us to write. This season, we wanted to honour our racing heritage with passion, innovation and determination. The bond with our fans, especially here in London, has given us an extra boost and reminded us how strong Maserati's identity is in the world of racing. A world that belongs to us and in which we will be celebrating our centenary next year.”
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