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The balance between risk and reward on the former airfield is palpable, yet the thrill of the challenge it serves is undeniable. We relish it, and that’s why we always come back for more.
After countless seasons of success in Germany, fortune wasn’t always on our side in 2024, but with a career-best finish for Jehan Daruvala and a promising run throughout, there are definitive highlights to take away.
Relive the 2024 Berlin E-Prix from the perspective of Maserati MSG Racing.
Qualifying is one of the most exciting parts of a Formula E race weekend. After careful data collection throughout practice, it’s the moment we all press forward and unleash our full pace.
On Saturday in Berlin, the session was a particular highlight of our weekend and after showing strong pace in FP1 and FP2, Max and Jehan staged one of the best Qualifying performances of our season.
From Groups A and B, the pair were on the limit almost immediately and carved their way into the duels from the initial stages with relative ease.
It was in the Quarter-Finals that the opposition became more intense, however, but despite losing out in the head-to-head phase, good speed still yielded a top-five position on the grid for Max, while Jehan secured seventh.
From his top five starting spot, Max was in the perfect position to contend for a strong finish in Race One, but motorsport is unpredictable, and in Formula E, plans and goals are always fluid.
With the series’ peloton style of racing making a return on Saturday, energy management was the main order of the day and by taking a conservative approach, Max carefully settled into the top 10 on lap one.
After establishing his position inside the points, a Safety Car on lap 11 paused all action, but when the race was resumed, Max immediately went on the offensive.
He pushed hard to battle into the top four, all with the aim of gaining ground to take Attack Mode which he tried, and unfortunately failed to do on lap 21.
Despite being shuffled back into the pack, Max didn’t give up and returned to the top 10 after activating the power boost later in the race.
But motor racing can be cruel, and Max was forced to retire on lap 28 after light contact with Edoardo Mortara broke his front wing, removed his ability to steer, and caused him to clatter the barriers.
Max’s retirement left Jehan as our sole challenger on Saturday, but before his team-mate’s elimination, the Indian racer had experienced quite the afternoon in Berlin.
Due to a gearbox change before Qualifying, Jehan received a 20-place grid penalty for the race but because he was unable to take the full demotion, was forced to serve a 10-second stop-go penalty at the end of the first lap.
After running through and stopping in the pit lane, the Indian racer was far from the pack, but lap 11’s Safety Car provided a key opportunity as he rejoined the tail end of the field.
Having built up a critical energy buffer over his closest competitors, Jehan’s pace was devastating during the restart as he clawed his way into the top 10 in only a handful of laps.
With his eyes on the prize, he continued to battle hard and quickly became a key protagonist for the podium by running inside the top five in the closing stages.
Unfortunately, a stack up ahead on the approach to Turn Nine dealt a bitter blow, and with front wing damage, Jehan was forced to pit for repairs.
While the outcome was undeniably disappointing, the pace was there. Countless opportunities still lay ahead in Race Two.
When Max and Jehan placed fourth and fifth in FP3 on Sunday morning, it was clear that the potential which underscores our pace was still present, and another top-five performance in Qualifying only served as another illustration.
But when Race Two got underway, the circumstances were tough when a loss in power on Max’s car cost him valuable track position as he slipped outside of the top 10.
With ground to make up, he took Attack Mode on laps six and nine and rocketed forward but in a near identical incident to Saturday, a broken front wing and subsequent damage forced him to retire.
Jehan was again our only runner, after rising forward from 13th on the grid, he was on the verge of returning to the top 10 for the second time this season.
He first cleared Stoffel Vandoorne, and then Norman Nato and Sacha Fenestraz, before next overtaking Jean-Eric Vergne and Jake Hughes to firmly move into the points.
Yet he didn’t stop there. Across one daring final lap, he used every ounce of available performance to stage one last overtake on Taylor Barnard to take seventh, securing his best result in Formula E.
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On Monday at Tempelhof, we leapt into action for one final time as we welcomed 2022 FIA Formula 2 champion, Felipe Drugovich, and Stellantis Motorsport Young Driver, Nico Pino, to the cockpit for Formula E’s in-season Rookie Test.
As the only test of its kind during the season, the day of running provided an invaluable opportunity to collect additional data as the current campaign quickly approaches its conclusion.
With 197 laps on the board, and 461.9 kilometres of running registered, the test provided critical insights ahead of the inaugural Shanghai E-Prix on 25-26 May 2024 when Formula E’s 10th season resumes.
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