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Formula E’s ninth season is reaching its crescendo. Every session counts, every result matters, and at the end, every point will be added up.
At the 2023 Rome E-Prix, Maserati MSG Racing scored its fourth podium in five race weekends and added to a sense of unstoppable momentum in the approach to the season finale.
Using insights from Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Team Principal, James Rossiter, reviews our weekend in Italy.
“The Rome E-Prix was an unforgettable race weekend,” recounts James.
“With a podium on Saturday and a strong double points finish on Sunday, with the exception of Edo’s unfortunate crash on Saturday, we’re very happy and satisfied with our performance as a team.
“Rome is a classic Formula E circuit, and with a good mixture of corner types, we returned to a conventional style of racing, which we haven’t seen often this season.
“This revolved around less intensive energy saving because we had more coasting and regen opportunities, and because of this, we knew that qualifying well would be very important.
“Before the weekend started, we were delighted to have Felipe [Drugovich] back in the car for our second rookie test of the season, and we gained some good additional insights in FP0, especially in race running at 300kW.
“Once practice was wrapped up, we knew we were in a good position and Edo [Mortara] and Max [Günther] both did a great job in qualifying to go through to the duels.”
For the first race of the weekend, Edo and Max qualified sixth and eighth, and after a fraught start – marked by an early Safety Car – the pair settled into a consistent rhythm before chaos ensued on lap nine.
“Before the weekend, having both cars start inside the top eight was our target but the start to Race One was quite chaotic and we lost some ground on lap one,” continues James.
“We recovered well, but then got caught up in the accident on lap nine.
“A big bump in Turn Six caused Sam [Bird] to lose control of his car. He spun across the circuit, and he was collected by multiple drivers, including Edo.
“The corner was blind and one of the fastest parts of the track and unfortunately, Edo really had nowhere to go and no time to even react to the situation.
“The crash was heavy, but we’re fortunate that Edo escaped without injury, and relieved that all of the drivers involved walked away from the accident unharmed.
“It’s a testament to the safety processes and procedures that Formula E and the FIA have in place.”
The incident, which caused six drivers to retire, led to a lengthy red flag period, which turned Saturday’s race in Rome into Formula E’s longest E-Prix in history.
With Max remaining as Maserati MSG Racing’s sole runner, the young German restarted the race from sixth on the grid and went on to execute a strong performance.
“A clean getaway at the restart put Max in a very good position, and our engineering team was able to pull together a brilliant strategy to put him in contention for the podium,” explains James.
“After the first Safety Car, it was clear that we would be looking at a race extension, and with real-time insights from HPE, we were able to run an efficient race, while saving energy to complete the additional two laps.
“Getting on top of this early was crucial for Max to overtake Jake [Dennis] to score our fourth podium of the season – a massive result for the team, and the Maserati brand.”
Once Race One was complete, the whole team joined together in an extensive repair build on Edo’s #48 Maserati Tipo Folgore – a job that continued into the early hours of Sunday morning.
“On Saturday evening we faced a full car rebuild on Edo’s side of the garage and through an incredible sense of team spirit, we were able to get the car ready in time for FP3.
“Our mechanics were the real heroes of Rome, and without their effort, it wouldn’t have been possible to have both cars on track on Sunday.
“Race Two was shorter than Race One, and this reduced the need to save energy and opened our strategy options.
“The first eight or nine laps were spent getting on top of energy management, and from there, the race was nearly flat out.
“Having eight-minutes of Attack Mode available meant we could use the 350kW power mode offensively and defensively, and we were able to undercut our competitors.
“Edo scored his best result of the season with fourth and Max came home in sixth.”
Alongside Max’s podium on Saturday, Sunday’s double top 10 finish yielded a total haul of 35 points from the weekend – a critical helping as Formula E’s ninth season edges closer to its conclusion.
“Overall, a great, lucrative weekend which we executed perfectly from start to finish,” adds James.
“With another 35 points on the board, we’re getting closer to the top five in the World Teams’ Championship, and we’re all ready for one final push in London.
“The determination and tenacity shown by everyone in the team this season has been inspiring, and I couldn’t be more proud to work with such an incredible group of people.
“In the finale we have everything to play for, and we need to stay grounded, trust our processes and maximise every opportunity that comes our way.
“We’ll keep fighting until the very end.”
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