Maserati Racing has gone for an all-new line-up by signing Stoffel Vandoorne and Jake Hughes for the 2025 FIA Formula E season.
McLaren –
The NEOM McLaren Formula E Team today announces the departure of Jake Hughes, concluding the 2023/24 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. Jake made his competitive debut in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in 2023 with the team. Since then, he has scored 96 points, 4 pole positions and a P2 podium finish at the 2024 Shanghai E-Prix.
In his first race in Formula E, the 2023 Mexico City E-Prix, Jake qualified P3, finishing the race in P5. He then went on to secure the team’s first pole position at only his third race weekend in Diriyah, before clinching a second pole position at the 2023 Monaco E-Prix. In 2024, Jake secured two more pole positions and achieved a career best P2 finish, his first podium in the championship.
Jake has been crucial to the team’s success, going back as far as 2020, in which he started out as Reserve and Development Driver for the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team – the team that laid the foundations of what is the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team today.
Jake Hughes said: “Leaving the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team will feel very strange for me in the coming weeks, based on the fact this team has been my home for the last four and a half years. I have a lot of thanks to give to so many different people within the team for what they have given me, and how they have prepared me and allowed me to grow into the racing driver I am today. Everything I am in Formula E is down to this team, and for that I am extremely grateful. I wish the team all the best, and I have no doubt that we’ll have some good times racing on track against each other in the future.”
Ian James, Managing Director, NEOM McLaren Electric Racing and Team Principal, NEOM McLaren Formula E Team, said: “Jake has made a significant contribution to this team over the years, both on and off the track, and we are incredibly grateful for his input and dedication throughout. During this time, he has flourished into a proven talent in Formula E; particular highlights being his four pole positions – of which one came in only his third ever event in Formula E – and his P2 finish in Shanghai this year. On a personal note, I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Jake. Alongside his natural talent as a driver, he is a consummate professional and yet has an easy sense of humour which has endeared him to all in the Formula E paddock.”
On behalf of all of us at the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team: thank you, Jake.
Maserati –
With sights now set on Season 11 of the FIA Formula E World Championship, Maserati MSG Racing is delighted to welcome Stoffel Vandoorne and Jake Hughes for the upcoming 2024/25 campaign. Season 8 World Champion Stoffel will challenge his seventh year in the fully electric series while Jake enters his third season after emerging as one of the brightest new talents on the grid since his debut with McLaren in Season 9.
Together, Stoffel and Jake will unite to form one of the strongest driver lineups of Formula E’s current Gen3 era, blending proven race winning experience and determination ahead of what will be a critical season which will see the debut of the next generation of electric racing car, the Gen3 Evo. Since joining the Formula E grid in 2018 following a two-season spell with McLaren in Formula One, Stoffel has forged a reputation was one of the series’ top competitors, and claimed a dominant World Championship title in the 2021/22 season with Mercedes-EQ.
Holding three victories, 16 podiums and eight pole positions, the Belgian is not only a proven race winner, but also a proven qualifier, and will play an instrumental role in guiding Maserati MSG Racing’s development over the season ahead. He will be joined by Jake, who in Season 9, staged one of the most impressive rookie seasons ever seen in Formula E in which the British racer secured pole position in only his third race in the series.
Since then, Jake has come out on top in Qualifying on four occasions and secured his first podium in Formula E earlier in Season 10 after finishing second in the 2024 Shanghai E-Prix. After serving as Maserati MSG Racing’s official Reserve Driver in Season 7, when the team previously competed under the guise of Venturi Racing, Jake is a familiar face and as such, will make a natural return in Season 11.
Together, Stoffel and Jake will make their first appearance with Maserati MSG Racing in Pre-Season testing at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, Spain, in a critical week of preparation from 4-7 November 2024. The duo will then head to São Paulo, Brazil, for the Season 11 opener on 7 December 2024 to kick-start what will be a record-breaking campaign featuring 17 races.
At the end of Season 10, Maserati MSG Racing would also like to extend its sincere thanks to Maximilian Günther and Jehan Daruvala for their incredible contribution to the team. We wish them all the best in their future endeavours.
Stoffel Vandoorne, Driver, Maserati MSG Racing: “I’m very happy to be joining Maserati MSG Racing next season and I’m proud to be associated with such an iconic name within motorsport as Maserati. I’m excited to start working with the team – although I haven’t worked directly with them before, I know the team well, both from my time at DS Penske but also from my time with Mercedes when we shared a powertrain with Venturi. They are a great bunch of people, very skilled, very determined and I’m really looking forward to working with together moving forwards. Hopefully we’ll have a lot of success and fight for victories and championships together.”
Jake Hughes, Driver, Maserati MSG Racing: “I’m over the moon to be joining Maserati MSG Racing. The success that the team has had, as one of the founding teams in Formula E, speaks for itself. On a personal level, I have worked with the team previously so I know them well and I’m genuinely looking forward to going back. I know that the season has only just finished but I honestly can’t wait to get over to the HQ in Monaco and start working with the engineers, get on the simulator and really get cracking with our prep for Season 11. This marks the start of an exciting new chapter in my career, and I know that the best is yet to come.”
José M Aznar, Team Principal & Managing Partner, Maserati MSG Racing: “With the introduction of the Gen3 Evo, Season 11 represents a new era for Formula E, and we are delighted to welcome Stoffel and Jake to the team for the upcoming season. Since joining Formula E in 2018, as the Season 8 World Champion, Stoffel is undeniably one of the best drivers on the grid right now. His speed and experience will play a critical role in our future development and growth, and by joining forces with Jake, we’re confident we’ll have one of the strongest lineups on the grid in 2025.
“Jake was our Reserve Driver in Season 7, and in that time, he really impressed us with his commitment to learn and hunger to help drive the team forward, and since making his debut with McLaren in Season 9, he hasn’t stopped impressing us. Welcoming him to the team feels like something of a homecoming, and it’ll be great to have him back in the garage. For Gen3 Evo, we have the foundations in place to have a strong season and it is our intention to fight at the front of the grid – something that we’re confident we can do.”
Giovanni Tommaso Sgro, Head of Maserati Corse: “We’re happy to welcome Stoffel Vandoorne and Jake Hughes to the Maserati family from Formula E Season 11 onwards. News of the arrival of two new drivers undoubtedly brings new energy to the entire team, who I’m sure can’t wait to get back on the track after the summer break to make the best of a new challenge. It will be Maserati’s third year in Formula E, and after two intense years full of satisfaction and momentous occasions for the brand’s growth on the track, we’re looking forward to this new adventure together with two drivers as talented as Stoffel and Jake, who are already leading names in the most important categories in motorsport.
“I’ll be fascinated to see them in action at the end of the year, at the pre-season test in Valencia. At the end of an intense Formula E Season 10, Maserati would also like to extend its sincere thanks to Max and Jehan for their incredible passion and commitment to the team. In the last two years, Max has provided us with some of the most significant moments in Maserati’s modern history on the track: with his victory in Jakarta last season, he was the first driver to bring a Maserati single-seater back to the top step of the podium since Juan Manuel Fangio. This year, he won in Tokyo and took a podium placing two years running in the Trident’s home race, in Rome and Misano… These memories that will forever remain indelibly imprinted on this brand’s history on the track and we’re really proud of these results.”
[Note: The story is as per press release]