“If you qualify well, you finish well”- Zane Maloney on his aims for Monaco E-Prix

During the Berlin E-Prix, Lola Yamaha ABT’s Zane Maloney seemed to find an almost perfect formula. The Barbadian driver set a career-best qualifying position of seventh on Saturday and then proceeded to best it with a sixth place on Sunday. Whilst the results are not reflective of Maloney’s driver, with him failing to score points in either race, the 22-year-old led the race and was able to fight at the front. Ahead of this weekend’s Monaco E-Prix, Maloney discussed his race in Berlin and what fans can expect at the Monaco E-Prix with DIVEBOMB.

Image credit: Simon Galloway/LAT Images for Formula E

Despite the fact that Maloney had a very strong performance in Berlin and showed a lot potential, when asked how he wanted to improve on his Berlin performance, he said:

“I think if we can qualify in the duels again, that would be amazing. That’s the goal for the team.” He also shared what had plagued a potential career-best finish in Berlin and how both he and the team planned to learn from it. “We struggled a bit for efficiency and in different aspects we were not far away from points but we struggled a bit. Monaco is more of a qualifying race compared to Berlin- if you qualify well, you have a chance of staying up there and we struggle a bit more in the race than in qualifying, so I’m focused on qualifying right now, getting a good result in that, starting high up the grid and hoping to stay where I am.”

Throughout his career, Maloney has raced at the Circuit de Monaco on several occasions across Formula Regional European Championship (FREC), Formula Two and Formula E. He has claimed three podiums around the principality, including one victory when he raced in FREC. During his maiden Formula E campaign, Maloney finished the Monaco E-Prix double header in 21st and 14th positions. Despite the lack of points in Season 11, the Lola Yamaha ABT driver has confidence in his prior Monaco experience:

"I think I know Monaco very well. Of course there’s some other drivers like Lucas (di Grassi) has been here 14 times, so I haven’t been here that much. But I think I know Monaco, I know what each corner needs to perform well to do one good lap time. So Monaco has some specific setups, settings, way of driving so it’s a difficult track to master but I think being here in Formula Regional, F2 and now Formula E that’s three different cars and each of them, okay they feel very different but they require the same techniques, relatively in each corner. I understand how to go fast around Monaco- in Formula Regional I finished on the podium, I won the race, and then in F2 I finished on the podium as well. I’ve always gone well here and hopefully this weekend it doesn’t change."

"I think generally Monaco is iconic- it’s unique." Maloney stated, before going on to say:

"There’s a lot of different corners that you need different driving styles for compared to other tracks in the world. But Monaco is my favourite circuit. I think the biggest thing is just getting the car in the window as a team, having a quick car which is always important and then me just being on top of it and putting the laps together in practice and qualifying and having a good race. Monaco, anything can happen, I think everyone knows that- it’s very unpredictable so just looking forward to doing whatever I can to get a good result."

Notoriously, Monaco is one of the most challenging circuits to drive, with tight turns, close walls and little or no room for error. During the press conference, Jean-Éric Vergne claimed that “Monaco is the hardest race weekend to focus.” When discussing how Monaco presented distinctive and one of a kind challenges, Maloney agreed with Vergne’s claim, sharing that there were unexpected challenges both physically and mentally:

“I think for Monaco you need to be at 100% mentally from the start of the weekend to the end. One small mistake and you end up in the wall and your race is over or your qualifying is over. It is mentally very, very tough. Physically as well, your heart rate is very high during qualifying and in the race and you need to be focused the whole time so it is a very tough weekend. There’s no room for error but I think that we like that as drivers. We enjoy testing ourselves.”

Previous races in the principality have been considered "peletons"- a scenario where no driver wants to lead the race in order to maximise energy saving. Whilst energy management is a key element of Formula E, the extreme energy saving in the series came under fire with the races being critiqued by many. When asked about the significance of energy saving, specifically in Monaco, Maloney said:

"It will be, I think it always is in Formula E but it will be a lot less than in Berlin. So Berlin was a peloton race like you said for sure, like when we go four or five wide into corners, saving a lot of energy throughout the race whereas Monaco is very tight so you can defend a bit easier. There still will be a lot of overtakes but you have more of a chance- if you qualify well, you finish well most of the time so that’s good for us right now. I think we are quicker in qualifying than in the race relatively so I’m looking forward to trying to get my elbows out during the race and I think that Formula E is always very unpredictable so it's difficult to really know what’s gonna happen this weekend but we will be trying our best."

Written by Teagan Crump