Maserati MSG Racing experienced a difficult first race in the double-header 2024 Berlin E-Prix as poor fortune in an unpredictable scenario halted promising initial progress for the Monegasque team.
After a frustrating race in Monaco two weeks earlier, the squad entered the Berlin weekend with good momentum from past races and showed strong pace throughout practice.
In Qualifying, drivers, Maximilian Günther and Jehan Daruvala, advanced to the duels from their respective groups but were unfortunately eliminated from the session at the Quarter-Final stage.
While Max qualified fifth, Jehan secured seventh, although a 20-place grid penalty, caused by a gearbox change, demoted the Indian racer to 22nd on the grid.
With Berlin set to mark the return of Formula E's peloton style of racing, Max opted for a conservative start and dropped to seventh while Jehan, who was unable to take his full grid penalty, was forced to serve a 10-second stop-go penalty at the end of lap one.
The duo quickly recovered, however, and while Max established track position inside the top 10, a Safety Car, caused by a stoppage for Joel Eriksson on lap 11, provided Jehan with a critical opportunity to regain lost ground.
When the race was resumed on lap 17, Max made immediate progress and battled his way into the top four but was shuffled back into the pack after a failed Attack Mode activation on lap 21.
After successfully deploying the device later in the race, Max unfortunately sustained terminal damage on lap 28 when his front wing broke off and slid under his front tyres to remove his ability to steer, causing him to hit the barriers.
This left Jehan as the team's sole challenger, and by staging a strong recovery drive, the 25-year-old clinically fought into the top 10 and was a key protagonist in the lead fight in the closing laps.
When running inside the top five, Jehan unfortunately picked up front wing damage and was forced to pit for repairs. Despite rejoining the race, he finished 17th.
The 2024 Berlin E-Prix will resume on Sunday, 12 May 2024 with a second race in Tempelhof, Germany.
In Their WordsMaximilian Günther, Driver, Maserati MSG Racing
'Obviously, today's race was a very action packed and difficult race but nevertheless, we've shown good pace in all of the sessions. Starting from Free Practice, we were up there with a good feeling in the car, and we confirmed this in Qualifying with a top-five starting place for the race. In the race, I would say that we were on the back foot for quite a while but by the mid-point of the race we managed to climb back up to the top five. There was a lot of fighting going on and unfortunately, I made contact with another car which broke my wing and ultimately ended my race. I'm not happy with the outcome, but that's racing and it's part of a season – there are always moments like this. We'll take the positives, see what we can do, and focus on the second race tomorrow.'
Jehan Daruvala, Driver, Maserati MSG Racing
'A bit of a tricky day at the office today. In the end, I'm happy with my race. We had a good Qualifying performance but started from last with the grid penalty for the gearbox change and then got the Safety Car that we needed from a strategic perspective. The race was going really well until the final Safety Car and on the restart, I got tangled up in an incident. Today there's no points on the board which isn't a fair reflection of our efforts, but tomorrow is a new day.'
Cyril Blais, Deputy Team Principal, Maserati MSG Racing
'A very difficult race for the team today. We started the weekend well with a good performance for both drivers in Qualifying. Max started fifth, and Jehan should have started seventh but with the grid penalty for the gearbox change, he started from the back of the grid. Our strategy with Jehan was always to save energy and hope for a Safety Car, and when that happened, it put him in a very strong position. Towards the end of the race he was fighting inside the top five, and he was looking very promising, but there was a concertina effect in front which caused some damage to the car. We had a very similar outcome with Max. Again, we were inside the top five, then we had a small contact with Edoardo Mortara after our second Attack Mode. The front wing went under the car and at that point, Max was just a passenger. We hit the wall and there was too much damage to continue. A tough race, but we'll regroup for tomorrow. It's clear that we have good pace – we just need to put everything together in the race.'
Giovanni Sgro, Head of Maserati Corse
'It's always unfortunate when you are performing well during a race and accidents prevent you from finishing strong. But this is part of racing and we are prepared for it. Max qualified well and was in the strong points area for most of the race and Jehan did an incredible job gaining 16 places to 5th before an incident that pushed him back to 17th. But we move forward and are focused on race two tomorrow.'
Photo credit: Maserati posted on conceptcarz.com
