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After seeing some encouraging signs in practice, we approached both races with quiet optimism before unleashing the potential of the Maserati Tipo Folgore to devastating effect.
The result was a landmark weekend, as the Maserati brand returned to the podium in World Championship single-seater motorsport for the first time in 66 years.
Relive our emotional and historic weekend in Germany’s capital city with our double-header race recap from Berlin.
Throughout this season, our one lap pace has been a key strength and on Saturday, we were able to extract maximum performance from our push laps once again.
Although Edoardo Mortara narrowly missed out on a place inside the duels by only 0.150 seconds, his team-mate Maximilian Günther found the limit on Tempelhof’s high-traction surface.
By setting the second-fastest time in Group B, Max advanced to the head-to-heads, and first went up against Dan Ticktum in the Quarter-Finals.
He had the measure on the Briton throughout the lap, but a heavy lockup in the final corner of his push lap cost him several tenths and a place in the Semi-Finals.
Despite this, however, Max still started the fourth row of the grid and after securing our fifth duel appearance in succession, hopes and spirits were high.
Berlin’s natural high energy sensitivity generated a reimagined style of racing over the weekend, as pure energy management and slipstreaming reached a new height.
In a similar style to a cycling peloton, the racing created a high-stakes scenario, yet Max was in fine form, warmed and spurred on by the fans on his home ground cheering from the grandstands.
His start was bold, and with a diving move around the outside of Turn One he immediately took fifth, and from there, delivered an expert drive.
Rising and falling through the field in a race marked by continued side-by-side action, Max found himself in direct contention for victory, battling with Mitch Evans, Sam Bird, and Sebastien Buemi.
On the final lap he got the measure on the Swiss, and by strategically offsetting his racing lines, pulled alongside the Envision driver for a drag race to the chequered flag.
By edging ahead by mere metres, Max scored his first podium of the season.
Edoardo Mortara is a fighter. He’s a man of his word, races with intention and this weekend, showed his class behind the wheel yet again with determined runs in both races.
Unfortunately, luck wasn’t always on his side, but in the face of some challenges he showed true grit and left nothing on the table.
Race One offered a taste of the Swiss-Italian’s speed, and even after falling back to 15th on the first lap he rallied his efforts to rise to the front of the field in an intense and robust run to first.
Unfortunately, a change in balance in the second half of the race pushed Edo down the order, but by taking home ninth on Saturday he took home our first double points finish of the season.
In Race Two, Edo was a threat, and delivered a clinical and calculating first stint to run into the top 10 while strategically under-consuming energy to launch an attack later in the race.
When the pack ahead bunched up, however, Edo was unfortunately left with nowhere to go and sustained frontwing damage after getting caught up in an unavoidable accident.
After pitting for repairs, Edo rejoined the race at the foot of the field, and without a Safety Car, he was forced to run at the rear before retiring in the closing stages, leaving only the question of ‘what if?’ at the close.
Rainfall on the morning of Race Two cast a shadow of the unknown over the Formula E paddock, as our Gen3 package experienced its first wet running of the season, and this brought a host of learning opportunities.
Although our pace was missing over one lap in the wet, specifically due to understeer, Saturday’s podium only brought confidence and spirits were still high for the race.
Max started from the back row of the grid, and by utilising the same strategy as Edo, delivered another clinical drive while banking energy to use to his advantage in the second half.
From 21st, Max clawed his way into the top 10 by lap 23 and overtook Nico Müller and Lucas di Grassi to make his mark on eighth.
Racing at home adds confidence, so when Max performed a spectacular overtake on three cars to bag his place inside the top five, the game was afoot.
In the closing stages he entered battle with fellow countryman Pascal Wehrlein and came out on top in his melee with the Porsche pilot.
Max took the chequered flag in sixth with the fastest lap, gaining a mighty 15 positions and the hearts of his fans to be recognised as Formula E’s driver of the day.
After wrapping up our competitive running on Sunday evening, we returned to the circuit once again on Monday as Formula E heralded the return of its rookie test – the only in-season test of Season 9.
The test last featured in Formula E’s sixth season, and we welcomed Formula 2’s reigning champion Felipe Drugovich to the cockpit, alongside 2023 Formula 3 debutant Hugh Barter.
After gelling over the race weekend, the duo completed a productive day, pumping in 197 laps and collecting a handsome helping of invaluable data as a result, while Felipe's impressive first taste in electric motorsport saw the young Brazilian top the session times.
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