The Maserati MSG Formula E team is regrouping with a bullish internal and external message of "business as usual" following the collapse of its takeover plans, according to its team principal Cyril Blais.
The team was forced into a precarious position last month when a deal for it to be purchased fell through. Maserati MSG subsequently moved into the hands of Formula E, which has the right to recall the ownership licence if a team fails to meet certain financial obligations.
The Race revealed last week that would-be buyer Brooklyn Earick would not be taking the team over after some commitments around the deal are believed to have not been met. This was despite Earick effectively being announced as its new chairman and CEO in Jeddah via a combination of the TV coverage and posts on his own social media channels.
Those posts have subsequently been deleted.
The collapse of the proposed deal has placed the future of the team in doubt as fresh investors are quickly being sought to at least stabilise it.
Speaking to The Race at a Maserati MSG round-table session this week, Blais said that "it's business as usual for us and we won't deviate from our trajectory".
"I don't want to take any attention on the back story and stuff and I want the team to focus on the performance," he added.
Maserati MSG had its strongest race weekend of the season so far in Jeddah in February, ironically at the very race where the takeover saga began. Jake Hughes and Stoffel Vandoorne scored points in both races, with Hughes claiming the team's first podium of the season in third in race two while Vandoorne burned through from last to sixth position.
The team recently ran in Mallorca with the DS test car in preparation for the Homestead Miami race in mid-April at which Maserati MSG initially planned to unveil its new ownership. That will no longer happen but Formula E is known to be fast-tracking potential fresh investors and used the recent Evo Sessions event in Miami to help generate interest in the team.
"We are on a good trajectory, we've improved the cars and the drivers are feeling more and more at ease in the team," added Blais.
"I see very strong men and women working together, and that's my main objective. I don't need to motivate them. They're fully hungry. We've got two top drivers, probably one of the strongest [line-ups], if not the strongest, in Formula E, and we just figured to go back on track and do the talking there."
Maserati insists Gen4 commitment is safe
Maserati says that it will, despite widespread speculation it could be replaced by another Stellantis brand from the start of the Gen4 period that begins at the end of 2026, be part of the Gen4 Formula E landscape.
The Race understands last November's announcement that Maserati would commit to Formula E for Gen4 was centred on an actual registration by Stellantis Motorsport, which is free to choose which of its brands is represented in the new Gen4 ruleset.
Then, Maserati CEO Santo Ficili said that "for this brand, the bond between the track and the road is unbreakable and the evolution of the single-seaters shows how many possibilities for development electric mobility holds".
"We will continue to draw major developments from the races in the FIA Formula E world championship, to transfer them into our 100% electric range," he added.
Maserati continues to market both internal combustion engine and all-electric road vehicles, although its sales across 2024 fell by 57% as deliveries decreased from 26,600 cars in 2023 to 11,300 units last year according to the official figures released by Stellantis earlier this year.
The planned electric MC20 project was canned due to a lack of demand, according to a story first run by Autocar last month. That car was set to be a large part of Maserati's marketing around its electric products with the Formula E programme set to be interwoven into its technology transfer angles.
But speaking to The Race on Tuesday head of Maserati Corse, Maria Conti, said that the marque was "confident of course" about its commitment to Gen4 and that "we decided to invest" in motorsport.
"Absolutely, we are doing that and we are working together with the team and together with Stellantis Motorsport," she said.
"We announced that as a manufacturer at the beginning of December. So, everybody's confident because we are on one side, the combustion engine, [on the other] the electric.
"We still have, of course, electric on the road, so we also need the Formula E commitment for Gen4 and for our electric strategy."
Stellantis' overall strategy for Gen4 is anticipated to be finalised soon, with an announcement on the future of DS Automobiles, the other brand that represents it in Formula E, imminent.
