Exclusive: Vandoorne dismisses Maserati Formula E exit rumours after strong P4 in London E-Prix

Spread the love

Stoffel Vandoorne maximised his results during the first 2025 Fantastic Four London E-Prix. Starting from the fourth row on the grid, he managed to finish in an impressive fourth place. Despite the impressive results, his position within Maserati seems to be under pressure.

“It was a pretty good qualifying for us. In some ways, it was a bit better, but I think under the conditions, this was more or less the maximum we could do today. So, with both cars seventh and eighth, very close together. There wasn’t much more we could do”, Vandoorne told Pit Debrief after the first race in London.

Race 1 Breakdown

The Belgian started the race from seventh place, and immediately had to avoid contact in the first corner. He managed to get through unscattered, before getting stuck in a sandwich between Mahindra’s Edoardo Mortara and Maximilian Guenther – his successor at DS Penske.

Yes, I was sandwiched between Edo and Max Gunther. Yes, there was a bit of contact there, but ultimately, I survived everything and got through the first lap clean.” Vandoorne went on to explain that the race starts in London always tend to be chaotic. “Slow first corners, two cars going side by side. So that’s the most dangerous moment in the race.”

He continued: “After that, it was quite okay. It was all about energy saving at the beginning. Ultimately it was mostly the pitboost strategy that made the difference today.”

Drama ensured

But why do the races in the London ExCel always end up in chaos? The Maserati driver has an easy explanation for that.

It’s a small circuit. The places you can overtake are extremely difficult and then often leads to drivers having contact, when they both don’t leave enough space. Every year we see a lot of incidents here because of that.”

All-in all, the driver from Kortrijk was satisfied with his performance on the Saturday.

I think this was the maximum result. We had a solid pace during the pit window, which was incredibly important.”

He also emphasised that the team did a stellar job with the strategy. “We made the right choices to do the pitstop relatively early, so we could have all the pace and ultimately get a clear track ahead of us. We only had Nick Cassidy ahead of us, but he was really too strong for everyone.”

What to come?

On Sunday afternoon, Vandoorne will start the second race in Great-Britain from the seventh position yet again. Unlike yesterday’s race, there will be no Pitboost today, making strategic calls a bit more difficult. Nonetheless, Vandoorne will be trying his best to

Vandoorne’s future in the electric series has been a huge topic of conversation lately. The story circulating the paddock is that the Belgian driver is set to leave Maserati after this season, despite having a contract with Stellantis for 2026. It’s rumoured that this contract doesn’t specify whether he is to race in WEC, FE or in both series.

That story isn’t accurate, according to the 33-year old driver. “I have a contract…. I have a contract with the Formula E team, at the end of the day is that their problem to solve”, he concluded.