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While history rarely repeats itself, in the present, there’s sometimes a harmony with the past, and in The Eternal City, Maximilian Günther bridged a 66-year strand in time.
From the 1957 Italian Grand Prix to our weekend in Rome, history was made again. Destiny is, after all, unstoppable.
With a fourth podium of the season on Saturday, Edoardo Mortara’s best result of the season on Sunday, and a total haul of 35 points, our weekend in Rome was one to remember.
Relive the penultimate race weekend of Season 9, in our race recap.
The 2023 Rome E-Prix was a little different. It felt different, and upon walking into the paddock on Thursday, there was a sense of belonging and a feeling of pure pride.
After extensive preparation behind the scenes, our stage was set, but our practice window started in new circumstances as Felipe Drugovich returned to the Formula E cockpit for FP0.
FP0 marked our second rookie test of the season, and we were delighted to welcome one of motorsport’s most promising young talents for his second taste of Formula E.
The session ran for only 30 minutes, but Felipe’s pace grabbed headlines as he led the field by 0.3 seconds in a lower power mode of 300kW.
At this moment, our pace was clear, and by the right steps forward, the RomeE-Prix was shaping up to be a very promising race weekend.
This pace was realised in qualifying on Saturday when Edo and Max advanced to the duels from the group stages to start from sixth and eighth on the grid.
It was the perfect position to fight from, but in Formula E, things rarely go as planned.
After a disrupted start, paused by a Safety Car for André Lotterer, our drivers started to settle into a rhythm but when the race was resumed on lap four, it wasn’t long before chaos would again ensue.
A spin for Sam Bird in the blind Turn Six caused carnage on lap nine, and unfortunately, Edo was caught up in a fierce T-bone accident which led to an immediate red flag.
With carbon fibre littering the circuit, we were relieved that all drivers, including Edo, emerged unscathed – a testament to the safety systems and procedures that Formula E and the FIA have in place.
Edo’s retirement from Race One left Max as our sole remaining runner, and in the restart, the young German lined up sixth, ready to battle forwards as the lights went out for a second time.
He drove with accuracy and precision, and with his first Attack Mode activation on lap 12, unleashed our speed to devastating effect.
After rejoining in seventh upon deployment, Max battled into the top five. With an overtake on Sacha Fenestraz, he took fourth, and with his second Attack Mode, pounced on the fight for third.
In the final stages of the race, Max successfully found a route around Andretti’s Jake Dennis and took the chequered flag to taste a masterful podium at one of Formula E’s most iconic circuits.
Our fourth helping of silverware in 2023 marked the Maserati brand’s first podium at home in World Championship single seaters since its last home race at Monza in 1957. History was again made.
Edoardo Mortara is unstoppable. Just like destiny, he is inevitable. He never backs down, and he never gives up. He’ll never shy away from a fight, and that’s why he’s one of the best on the grid.
After his Saturday came to a crushing end, the Swiss-Italian hit the reset button overnight. New car, new day, new opportunities. He took advantage of all three.
Despite racing with completely new machinery, which was built during the early hours of the morning, Edo showed what supreme class and experience can do behind the wheel on Sunday.
Although he narrowly missed out on the duels, a top-10 starting spot was all he needed, and he maximised every single opportunity that came his way.
He gained two positions from the outset to rise to seventh, but is offensive was paused by an early Safety Car when Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy came to blows.
When greed flag running resumed, he held fifth and undercut Sebastien Buemi for fourth and to take home his best result of the season so far.
With Max joining Edo inside the top 10, the Maserati MSG Racing team banked a total of 35 points in a lucrative and competitive weekend in Rome.
This haul edged the team to its 130th point of Season 9, and after 14 races, the battle is still on, with only 23 points dividing sixth from fifth in the World Teams’ Championship.
Only one race weekend remains in 2023 – the London E-Prix – and with a pair of races in the British capital, everything is still to play for.
When the season resumes on the last weekend of July, we’ll be giving it our all. Some things are inescapable, but in a team of fighters, our ambitions will never cease.
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