After the weekend concluded, The Girls Who – Motorsport spoke with Zane Maloney about his stint at the Berlin E-Prix. Despite leaving the weekend disappointed with his results, Berlin was a step in the right direction for Lola Yamaha ABT.
A New Position for Maloney
Berlin was a learning curve for the team, with an unusual but encouraging position for Maloney to be in. On Saturday, he advanced to the duels and spent multiple laps leading the race. A position that was unlikely for the team last season. The 22-year-old acknowledges the ”work that the team have done in pure pace” which enabled him to ”maximise what he’s given.” He demonstrated the competitiveness of the car, a measure of progress from the past season.
Sunday’s race confirms that the work behind the scenes is paying off, with Maloney making it into the duels once again and being present in the midfield battle. However, even though Berlin is a track that rewards one-lap pace, strategy and raw speed contribute to success. Maloney expresses that the team ”struggled a lot during the race.”
Working on Execution
Despite sitting in the midfield, Maloney admits that Lola struggles with efficiency-based weekends, as at first, they ”were good on energy, but as soon as the race picked up, we just couldn’t follow the pack.” Initially, team strategy showed an aim to preserve energy to ensure that they were competitive towards the ending laps. However, it became apparent by lap 29 that ATTACK MODE could only aid the team in moving up two positions.
The Girls Who – Motorsport asked the Lola driver about his thoughts on showcasing his flashes of pace but struggling to translate that into scoring consistent points. Maloney answered, ”It’s just obviously sad that we’re not quite there in the races right now.” But added, ”We’re improving, we’re working hard, and we’re working very well as a team.” Despite the frustration, Maloney displayed intention to use this weekend as a learning curve to perform better in upcoming races.
Takeaways for Monaco
Formula E takes us to Monaco for the next double header, a track that has historically been extremely hard to qualify well on. Though, Maloney has hope that the team can achieve their breakthrough moment in qualifying, as it’s been ”five qualifying sessions in the top 10 in a row.” Maloney looks towards Monaco with confidence as their ”Quali form is up there,” which will put them in a good position ahead of the race.
Points are what Maloney needs from his next race to align him with his campaign to move up in the championship standings. This may seem possible, as Monaco is a track with narrow roads, allowing the team to focus on energy conservation rather than defending positions.