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Each year, only one driver and team can win Formula E’s crown jewel event, and while many will dream and few will succeed, it’s the thirst for glory that makes us try in the first place.
While our 2024 outing in Monaco didn’t go as we hoped, it spells a story of teamwork, ambition, and resilience, underscored by a simple yet raw instinct to race.
Relive Maserati MSG Racing’s home event and the mid-way point of Formula E’s 10th season in Monaco.
Qualifying for the Monaco E-Prix is one of the single-most important sessions of a Formula E season. Given that track position is king and brings strategic benefits, it’s easy to understand why.
After a positive practice phase, our drivers, Maximilian Günther and Jehan Daruvala, were in fine form and understood the task to deliver one of the best Qualifying performances of our 2024.
In Group B, Jehan danced his Maserati Tipo Folgore through the street circuit’s legendary corners to start inside the top 10 while Max, from Group A, pushed through to the duel stages.
The 26-year-old faced eventual polesitter Pascal Wehrlein in the Quarter-Finals, but despite losing out to the Porsche driver, still lined up in a respectable eighth.
Having both cars starting from inside the top 10 for the first time this season was the perfect scenario before lights out and from the fourth and fifth rows of the grid, we were in a prime position to fight forward.
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With strong starting positions in hand, our next objective was to secure a clean start, but in the face of the chaos of an opening lap, there are always opportunities to strike.
When the lights flashed out, Max and Jehan set their sights forward and with a faultless getaway, both were on the move.
Jehan seamlessly claimed ninth by cruising past Envision Racing’s Robin Frijns during his initial launch while Max was punchy in the run to Sainte Devote.
Spying an opportunity around the outside, Max applied the brakes late to first skirt past Antonio Felix da Costa, then Sebastien Buemi, and then Jean-Eric Vergne on exit to leap into fifth.
No sooner than the race had found its rhythm, however, the Safety Car was on track following a collision for Edoardo Mortara in the swimming pool section, pausing all action.
After a four-lap run under Safety Car conditions, the race was resumed at the end of lap eight and Jehan – who was already showing good pace – was immediately on the move.
With drivers ahead taking Attack Mode, he pushed to move forward, rising to seventh, and then darted around the outside of Turn Four to activate the power boost himself.
Unfortunately, several issues with Attack Mode deployment cost Jehan dearly, pushing him outside of the top 10 as he lost valuable track position.
Despite trying to activate a further four times, the 25-year-old was unable to use the 50kW of extra power and finished 20th but showed his true pace by posting the fastest lap.
After scoring his first points of the season at Misano, and showing clear pace in Monaco, we know that Jehan will bounce back in Berlin – a city he knows well after participating in Season 9’s Rookie Test.
After his strong and daring start to the race, Max remained in contention and had the strategic measure on his opponents after the Safety Car restart.
He pushed to take his first Attack Mode on lap 15 to consolidate his hold on fifth, but with aggressive overtaking throughout the field, he unfortunately ran into trouble.
Locked in an intense battle with Oliver Rowland, Max was pushed wide by the Nissan driver on lap 20 and dropped to ninth, with Da Costa and Sacha Fenestraz also pouncing.
With one Attack Mode still to take, however, Max faced a key challenge on the horizon, but he didn’t back down from the fight.
When Max took his final Attack Mode on lap 22, he dropped to 11th and with the number of laps waning, the battle to finish inside the top 10 was on.
With an expertly executed overtake on Dan Ticktum, Max slotted into 10th and next cleared Norman Nato for ninth before setting out in pursuit of Fenestraz.
An ill-timed Safety Car, caused by an accident between Jake Hughes and Nico Müller, then halted his proceedings, but when the race was resumed for lap 27, there was little he could do.
Energy saving targets were lowered to create a flat-out run to the finish, leaving few opportunities for overtaking. But Max pushed until the very end and took ninth at the flag.
By adding two points to the board, Max maintained our 100% points scoring record for 2024, and with the Berlin E-Prix coming up next – the site of the Maserati brand’s first podium in Formula E last season – further opportunities are up for grabs this May.
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