Race Recap: 2023 Jakarta E-Prix

Motorsport is about the pursuit of perfection. The thrill of the chase. The hunger for success, and the desire to leave a legacy that will stand the test of time.

At the 2023 Jakarta E-Prix, Maserati MSG Racing made history, and with Maximilian Günther, delivered one of the most dominant and perfect weekends ever seen in Formula E.

It culminated in a new chapter for the Maserati brand, scored its first World Championship single-seatervictory since the 1957 German Grand Prix.

Relive our landmark weekend in the Indonesian capital as Monaco’s only racing team stayed cool in the face of the heat to triumph at the most demanding race of the season.

Promising Initial Pace

Simulations play a crucial part in preparation for a Formula E race weekend, but there’s nothing quite like taking to the track in practice to correlate data findings.

When Edoardo Mortara and Maximilian Günther left the pitlane on Friday afternoon, our speed was more than clear as the one-lap pace and long-run efficiency of the Maserati Tipo Folgore prevailed.

With a strong opening practice session, Max led the way with the fastest time while Edo cemented the second-best time in the session to produce an all-blue FP1 in Jakarta.

Although contact with the wall restricted Edo’s progress in FP2, Max’s form continued, and he again led the way with an advantage of one-tenth of a second on Saturday morning.

A Maiden Pole Position

Max has been a consistent qualifying threat throughout Season 9, and despite coming close to his maiden pole position on multiple occasions, fate had always intervened.

Yet with confidence in his step, the young German extracted every ounce of pace in Saturday’s qualifying session and led the way Group B to progress to the duel stages.

By prevailing in a Quarter-Final head-to-head with Edo, Max next went up against Pascal Wehrlein and comfortably defeated the Porsche driver to make his way into the final.

There, he went up against Jake Dennis, and by outpacing the Briton by more than three-tenths, secured the first pole position of his career and the Maserati brand’s first in single-seaters since the 1957 Pescara Grand Prix.

A Return to the Podium

From pole position, Max continued to fight the fight in the race, and took the lead with a quick getaway from the front row to secure the perfect start to the next 36 laps.

With Edo also starting from the top 10, despite losing significant track time in FP2, the Swiss-Italian was in a prime position to contend for points and prevailed in an early fight with Robin Frijns to hold sixth in the opening phase.

By opting to underconsume, Max sacrificed his pace to harness more energy at a later stage and tussled with Wehrlein in the battle at the front.

After exchanging positions with the Porsche driver twice, Max slipped to second while Edo set out in pursuit of Jean-Eric Vergne, with his eyes set on the top five.

In the closing stages, Max was overtaken by Dennis but remained within striking distance of the top two, vying for a route around, with victory in sight.

With the laps dwindling, Max maintained third but kept Dennis honest to the chequered flag and secured his second podium of 2023, while Edo brought home sixth to deliver our highest points haul of the season so far.

Now There Are Two of Them

When Max posted the fastest lap in FP3, there was a sense of inevitability throughout the pitlane, and come qualifying, Formula E witnessed a new level of dominance from the 25-year-old.

In a near perfect copy of Saturday, Max set the benchmark in Group B, and advanced to the Semi-Finals after outpacing reigning World Champion, Stoffel Vandoorne, at the Quarter-Final stage.

Here, he went up against and edged ahead of Edo, who was left to combat extensive oversteer in his 350kW run, to again face Dennis in the Final.

An impressive final run, a 1:07.753, saw Max deliver the only sub-1:08 lap of thesession and secure a second pole position in as many races alongside a further three bonus points in his championship tally.

History is Made

With success comes confidence, and in the run-up to Race Two, Max had found his flow state and set his eyes on the prize, motivated by pure self-belief and determination.

He overcame the first hurdle of maintaining first place on lap one, and after leading for the opening four laps, Max activated Attack Mode to rejoin inthird.

As the first stint of the race unfolded, Max emerged in a net-second place and setout to save energy, which he unleashed to devastating effect in the second phase of the 38-lap affair.

By overcutting Dennis, spending his banked energy, and activating his second Attack Mode without losing track position, he edged one step closer to victory.

An overtake on Mitch Evans on lap 20 put Max back in the lead, and by extracting his maximum pace, he took a commanding victory by nearly three seconds from his next nearest competitor.

Standing on the top step, Max secured the Maserati brand’s first World Championship single-seater victory since the 1957 German Grand Prix to secure a new piece of history.

With Season 9 set to continue on June 24 in Portland, Oregon, the team steps forward into the final part of the current campaign with renewed momentum and morale at an all-time high.