until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
Team principal James Rossiter is no longer part of the Maserati MSG Formula E team after a surprise exit just a week before the pre-season test at Valencia.
Rossiter was set to lead the team into a second season but The Race understands that he will not attend the Valencia test and will be replaced imminently.
The move will come as a shock to the Formula E paddock.
Maserati recently moved into new premises and restructured its driver line-up, replacing its long-time driver Edoardo Mortara with Formula 2 race winner Jehan Daruvala.
Rossiter joined as team principal in September 2022 just as the team transformed from Venturi to Maserati, after spending three seasons as a sporting manager with the DS Techeetah squad. He replaced Jerome D’Ambrosio, who left the team to take up a sporting management role at the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
Rossiter conducted that role in conjunction with being a test driver for the team, as well as being a development driver for the Peugeot World Endurance Championship squad. Rossiter’s final race as development driver was at the WEC's Bahrain 8 Hours last November, having contested the previous two races at Monza and Fuji.
The start of his role was a baptism of fire with a litany of accidents punctuating last season and Maserati MSG scoring just three points in the first six races, despite all the excitement around the Maserati brand's FE entry and a very strong pre-season test.
Form was eventually found by Maximilian Guenther, who took a podium position at the Berlin E-Prix in May before winning brilliantly in the second Jakarta E-Prix the following month.
Maserati eventually finished sixth in the standings with Guenther scoring the majority of the points, including a further podium in Rome.
The Race visited Rossiter at the team's new Monaco base last month, where he said that the initially difficult start to 2023 was a proving ground for a fightback from the team.
“I certainly look back with a smile on my face at the beginning, because those hard times shaped us,” he said.
“That's what empowered us and enabled us to have a great second half.
“It taught me a huge amount, it was brutal. The lows were very, very low, trying to pick the team up from some of those difficult situations, where we were destroying cars and missing races.
“The hard work that went in from the men and women in the team was just incredible.”
The Race understands that Jose M Aznar Botella, one part of the MSG element of the team's managing partners, is likely to assume temporary leadership of the squad at the Valencia test next week. The team is currently readying its two race cars ahead of freighting them to Spain on Tuesday.
Maserati MSG declined to comment upon requests for information from The Race on Friday but an announcement is expected shortly regarding Rossiter’s status with the team and a possible replacement.
