- Maserati’s Formula E racing debut has been checkered with middling results and DNFs, but the Maserati MSG Racing team has recently been on its game.
- With a win in Jakarta and a third-place podium in Berlin, Maximilian Günther is heading up the team’s resurgence, as it prepares for this weekend’s Portland E-Prix.
- Head of Maserati Racing Giovanni Tommaso Sgro said Maserati specifically picked Formula E for its return to motorsports, given its forward-thinking, sustainable approach.
Rejoining the single-seat motorsports arena for 2023, Maserati’s first venture into electric racing has been a mixed bag so far. A pattern of did-not-finish results from both drivers, German-born Maximilian Günther and Swiss-born Edoardo Mortara, plagued early rounds of the season, but Maserati MSG Racing is starting to claw its way back.
Starting from the eighth spot and wheeling around the shuttered Tempelhof Airport, Günther managed to secure a third-place finish at the Sabic Berlin E-Prix. A month later, the team boasted back-to-back podiums from Günther at the two-round Gulavit Jakarta E-Prix, finishing with third and then first-place results. Mortara generally held his own, too, holding onto his sixth starting position in round one at Jakarta.
Maximilian Günther fist-pumping his way to the top spot on the podium in Jakarta.
Xinhua News Agency//Getty Images
But a new challenge is on the horizon this weekend, as Formula E approaches its first North American race of the season in Portland, Oregon. Hosted at Portland International Raceway, the 2.002-mile track will be the third longest on the roster this year (only Monaco and Rome are longer) with lengthy straights on both ends, forcing the team to reconsider its strategy.
“Portland is a very special track for us. It’s very, very fast and very energy sensitive,” Günther said in a media roundtable. “I think we can expect some very exciting and maybe even unpredictable racing on Saturday.”
“We will probably have the highest top speed with our generation-three cars there,” Mortara explained. “Because of the long straights, the slipstream will play a big role.”
The single round at Monaco proved challenging for Maserati MSG Racing, as Günther did not finish and Mortara placed 11th.
NurPhoto//Getty Images
Beyond its length, PIR stands out against other Formula E venues because it’s a genuine track, with limited course changes expected for this weekend’s race. Replacing the shipyard-built Brooklyn track on the 2023 schedule, both Günther and Mortara concurred that Portland allows drivers further back in the pole a greater chance at passing, in large part due to available track width. In spite of the likely high top speeds, Mortara said he expects to do a lot of coasting this weekend, as the batteries could be easily depleted by going wide-open as often as possible.
This will be a learning moment for the team, said Giovanni Tommaso Sgro, Head of Maserati Corse, the Italian brand’s internal racing department. That’s because Maserati MSG racing plans to stick with Formula E for the long run, with Tommaso Sgro committing the team to next year’s Season 10 schedule. And Tommaso Sgro said the software learning from Formula E is likely to transfer over to its road cars, seeing as Maserati has committed to offering a full-electric road car lineup by 2030.
Maserati mixing it up in Berlin earlier this year.
ATPImages//Getty Images
“Technology transfer for us is a very important factor and important key for us,” he said. “Although the technology transfer is not 100% now, there’s going to be much more information that we can capture, share, and then decide if you want to implement in the cars that we developed for driving on the street.”
Driving electric expansion isn’t the only reason Maserati joined Formula E, though. In fact, Tommaso Sgro said joining Formula E was a strategic and symbolic decision for Maserati’s return to racing. Citing the unique, tech-centric fan base as well as the sustainable, mobility-based thinking behind the series, he said Formula E felt like the most forward-thinking and accessible series for Maserati to join.
“I think that Formula E is a path of growth, personally and professionally. The other aspect of it is to communicate to a broader audience that is in it to understand how the future of human mobility is evolving and how is Maserati a part of that journey.”
Emmet White
Associate Editor
A New York transplant hailing from the Pacific Northwest, Emmet White has a passion for anything that goes: cars, bicycles, planes, and motorcycles. After learning to ride at 17, Emmet worked in the motorcycle industry before joining Autoweek in 2022. The woes of alternate side parking have kept his fleet moderate, with a 2014 Volkswagen Jetta GLI and a 2003 Honda Nighthawk 750 street parked in his South Brooklyn community.
Keyword: Maserati Prepares for Portland E-Prix, Commits to Season 10