Mortara leaves Maserati; chance for De Vries or Drugovich?
General
- Ludo van Denderen
Edoardo Mortara is leaving Maserati MSG Racing's Formula E team (formerly called Venturi) after six seasons. It is still unknown who will replace the 36-year-old Swiss driver, but it is obvious that the team will choose between Felipe Drugovich and Nyck de Vries.
Mortara's season was one to quickly forget. While his teammate Maximillian Guenther even took a win, the Swiss, tipped beforehand as a championship contender, did not go beyond a four and a fifth place as the highlight of the year. Soon, rumours spread that Maserati would replace Mortara. However, the routine driver still had a contract with the Monaco-based team.
Mortara proud of time at Maserati
"The past six years of my career have been quite a journey, and it has been an honour to represent the team during this time. Since 2017, we have experienced a lot together, it’s been a rollercoaster at times and by learning from the tough moments we faced, we grew to become a competitive outfit, fighting for race wins and World Championships. I’m proud of the role I played in this. I want to take this opportunity to thank the team for their trust in me and their support, I wish them the best of luck for the future," Mortara commented.
Maserati must now recruit a replacement for the Swiss, while Guenther is also not officially confirmed. Felipe Drugovich and Nyck de Vries are the main candidates to replace Mortara. Drugovich, a reserve driver at Aston Martin F1, did two tests with Maserati and made a big impression in them. The Brazilian looked set to go to Andretti Global, but that team appointed Norman Nato as second driver last week. Nyck de Vries would have become a Maserati driver a year ago had he not chosen AlphaTauri at the last minute.
Rossiter positive about De Vries
Recently, team boss James Rossiter told GPblog about the possible recruitment of De Vries: "Well I think first and foremost, what happened to Nyck is incredibly unfortunate. I think not being able to showcase your talent for an entire season and clearly he was building on his pace. Everyone forgets Yuki [Tsunoda] has been there a long time and been doing a great job so I feel very sorry for Nyck first and foremost that he's been kicked out let's say he was at a point where it was about to start getting good for him. Bit sad for that to be honest."
Whether De Vries is an option? "Obviously as a Formula E champion he brings a lot of credibility and experience so he would be an exciting driver," Rossiter responded to the specific question from GPblog.