Despite his enthusiasm to “hit the ground running” at the 2025 Monaco E-Prix, Lola Yamaha ABT’s Zane Maloney suffered a disappointing Round 6. After an unfortunate Qualifying, the rookie driver found himself starting the race from the back of the grid. Unfortunately, despite a promising start to the race, marked by the early deployment of his ATTACK MODE, Maloney suffered a setback which took him out of contention for points. He ended the race at the back of the pack in P21, only gaining a position due to António Félix da Costa’s early crash.
A disastrous Saturday in Monaco for Maloney
While speaking to Pit Debrief after the race, Maloney described the Round 6 race as a “disaster”. He explained that he suffered a puncture after an incident with Maserati MSG Racing’s Jake Hughes, which took him out of contention as he would have needed a Safety Car to make anything of the race. Hughes later received a five-second penalty and one penalty point for causing the collision with Maloney.
“Disaster of course,” he said, “I think it was one of the Maseratis, I think it was Hughes, we got a puncture from him.”
“He just, I guess, misjudged in Turn 8, went into the back of me and then we had a puncture, so the race is over from there. Yeah, from then on, we were just hoping for a safety car, that never came of course.”
With veteran teammate Lucas di Grassi also finishing outside of the points in P13, Maloney summarised that the Lola Yamaha ABT team had suffered a “very tough day.” While Maloney identified the need for a stronger Sunday at the Monaco E-Prix, he acknowledged that there had been little that he could have done to improve the outcome of the race.
“Generally, a very tough day for the team. We need to do a better job tomorrow but when you get a bit unlucky like that there’s not much you can do in the race.”
Technical problem a hinderance despite good strategy
Despite the disappointing end to his Saturday at the Monaco E-Prix, Maloney did however, identify some positives. When asked about his early deployment of ATTACK Mode, and whether it had contributed to his poor finish, Maloney emphasised it was a technical issue rather than a strategic one that had affected his race. After deploying ATTACK MODE in the opening laps of the race, Maloney was forced into the pits for a lengthy stop. This saw him drop back down the order, losing the positions that he had gained.
“No, we just had a, I don’t know what to call it, a bit of a problem when we took ATTACK, so something to review as a team, but I think we had a good strategy, we executed it well without the problem but yeah, we need to see for tomorrow what we can do better.”
Improved qualifying performance a priority for Lola Yamaha ABT
After reflecting on his Saturday performance, the Barbadian driver admitted that Lola Yamaha ABT needed to improve their performance in Qualifying sessions. Maloney explained that the team were still in a testing phase, which required creative approaches to the sessions by both him and teammate di Grassi.
“We need better qualifying performance. I think we’re still new so we’re really testing a lot, even in a Qualifying session it’s a test session for us, between me and Lucas trying different things.”
While Maloney acknowledged that this approach sometimes ended in poor results, he emphasised the value of the learning done. In the case of the Monaco E-Prix, Maloney explained that while Saturday was disappointing, the team had gained a better understanding of what to work on to improve their chances on Sunday.
“Today didn’t go our way but I mean we have a little bit of a better idea for tomorrow what we need to do and once we start being a bit higher in qualifying then you can fight in the race and then you can start to get some points and do good races.”
Currently 21st in the standings with 0 points, Maloney will be hoping to get his rookie Formula E campaign into action on Sunday, with his experience around the Monte Carlo circuit offering a potential advantage.
