The news was already in the air, since the founder and president of Formula E, Alejandro Agag, had expressed in recent months the hope of seeing an Italian manufacturer in Formula E. It will not be Ferrari, nor Alfa Romeo, but the House of the Trident. : in 2023, Maserati will make its Formula E debut. It will do so by bringing the new Gen 3 single-seaters to their debut in Season 9 of the World Championship for electric single-seaters. So let’s find out what we will see in 2023, and why Maserati’s return to world racing is historic news.
Maserati, from F1 pioneer to Formula E: in 2023 it returns to open wheels after more than 60 years
For fans, this is a really important historical moment to seal. If, in fact, for the younger and less experienced racing Maserati it may seem a brand that focuses entirely on sportiness and comfort and little on racing, the latest, very sporty MC20 will have already put a doubt in your head. And indeed, behind the current reputation of the “sporty but luxurious” brand of the Trident there is a real racing legend. Maserati was in fact one of the pioneers in the world of motorsport, among the first Italian manufacturers to devote themselves full time to motor racing.
In fact, Maserati was born precisely as a racing car manufacturer, with the road cars that came later in the history of the Bolognese company. Maserati’s debut in motorsport came almost 100 years ago, in 1926, with a Tipo 26 driven by one of the founding brothers, Alfieri Maserati, at the Targa Florio that year, where he finished ninth overall. Subsequently, Maserati won two Indianapolis 500s in 1939 and 1940, but above all it was one of the “founders” of Formula 1, in which he took part since before the first World Championship was established in 1950. Rival of the other “red” Alfa Romeo and Ferrari (red is the “racing” color of Italy, established by the FIA: for this reason our racing cars are almost always red), Maserati took 9 victories and two Drivers’ World Championships in 1954 and 1957, both won by the Argentine ace Juan Manuel Fangio.
Maserati, however, retired its racing team in 1957, with its 250Fs that competed until 1960. Also abandoned the role of engine engineer in 1967, the Trident has not been seen on open-wheel racing cars for 60 years. Apart from the sporadic appearances of the Maserati MC12 in the GT Championships between the ’00s and the’ 10s, Maserati has been officially absent from a world championship for over 60 years. However, this wait is destined to end: the House of the Trident will return to Formula E in 2023, with its newly reborn Squadra Corse.
Maserati in Formula E to demonstrate the competitiveness of its brand new Folgore series
Maserati will therefore arrive in Formula E in 2023, egwill be the first Italian manufacturer to participate in the most famous championship dedicated to electric cars in the world. In reality it will also be the first Italian team in the competition, as in Season 1 the Trulli GP Team, founded by former Pescara F1 driver Jarno Trulli, ran under the Swiss license. Maserati’s debut will take place in a pivotal year for the category founded in 2014 by Alejandro Agag. It will be right in Season 9 of 2023, in fact, that the highly anticipated cars will make their debut Gen 3, a new generation of electric single-seaters.
Even more extreme from an aesthetic point of view, the Gen3 will have 470 CV, a big leap from the current 340, will be much more efficient. The next Formula E cars can be recharged with gods very fast “pit stops” thanks to a 800 kW recharge, while on the front axle there will be a dedicated 250 kW motor. This engine, however, will not give the car all-wheel drive, but will only take care of the energy recovery. Thanks to its regenerative braking, in fact, the car will recover 40% of the energy needed to complete the race. In general, however, the pure performance of the car should go up a lot, as well as (hopefully) the show on the track. And in this show there will also be Maserati, which in Formula E wants to demonstrate its transition to electrification.
We still don’t know anything about Maserati’s adventure in Formula E, but we certainly know the name of the car: Thunderbolt. This was the important name chosen by the Trident for its electric cars, which will be many in the coming years. This year the debut of the first car in the Folgore series, the 100% electric MC20. After her, all the Maseratis of the future, from the expected Gran Turismo to the future Quattroporte, Ghibli and Grecale will have a Folgore zero-emission variant. And what better way to prove your competitiveness in the world of electrification than Formula E? Maserati’s future focuses on returning to what made it great in the past: racing. The new slogan of the Trident also goes in this direction, which marks this union between past, present and future: “Back to the Future, back to Race”. Back to the future, back to racing.
The statements of the protagonists, the CEO Maserati Grasso and the Founder of Formula E Agag
The official participation of Maserati in Formula E from 2023 was announced by the Maserati headquarters, in Viale Ciro Menotti in Modena. To greet this return of Maserati to the world of racing was the CEO of the House, Davide Grasso, and the Founder and President of Formula E Alejandro Agag. “We are extremely proud to be protagonists of the racing world again, the environment to which we belong. ”, explained Grasso. “In the race towards greater performance, luxury and innovation, the irresistible Folgore series represents the purest expression of Maserati. Thanks to our participation in Formula E, we want to take the Trident into the future.“
The enthusiasm and satisfaction of Grasso was followed by that of Agag, who, as mentioned, had long desired the participation of a legendary Italian company. “Swe are happy to welcome Maserati to the world of motorsport world class. The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is the pinnacle of electric racing. ”Agag explained. “It represents the perfect environment for the most dynamic, innovative and high-performance manufacturers. Formula E is the ideal context in which demonstrate their technological skills and sporting ambitions.”
How will Maserati fare in tough Formula E?
These are therefore the statements of the protagonists of this epochal news in the world of motors. Maserati arrives in Formual E to finally return to compete in a World Championship, after decades of absence from motorsport. The Bolognese house, but now Modenese by adoption, has racing in its DNA, and to get back into vogue it needs to go back to basics. Formula E is a very tough, difficult and hard-fought championship, where it is not at all easy to be able to emerge. With all the cars almost standardized in engine, chassis and aerodynamic performance, what makes the difference is the work of the team.
This is why we believe that Formula E is the perfect springboard for Maserati, which in Stellantis already has the experience of DS in the premier class of EVs to draw inspiration from. In Formula E, if you work well, you can aim for results of great value, and why not some victories. However, we do not know anything about this project yet, and neither do i pilots. May there be room for the purged of Formula 1 Antonio Giovinazzi in the Maserati team, always in the Ferrari galaxy? What to say: this project has a lot of meat in the fire, and we can’t wait to find out how Maserati will fare in Formula E in just over a year.