Analysis: How the Formula E debut went for Lola Yamaha ABT & Zane Maloney in Sao Paulo

The Sao Paulo E-Prix was the first ever race in Formula E for the new manufacturer Lola Yamaha, but even the veterans from ABT, who are still on board as the operational team, were unable to change the points-less start. Zane Maloney only finished twelfth in his first race due to a drive-through penalty. Former champion Lucas di Grassi had to park his car after just six laps with technical problems. But even regardless of this, Lola still lacked pace at the start.

For ABT, it was the continuation of their inglorious series of poor starts to new seasons: since their return to Formula E, they have never scored points in the first race of the season. And they have also never had more than one driver cross the finish line. For Lola, on the other hand, it was the first Formula E race, so expectations of the new manufacturer were not set too high. However, the data shows that the gap to the top was immense.

Slowest team of the weekend

In our usual statistics article on e-Formula.news, we analysed the performance of all drivers and teams. Jake Dennis was the fastest driver of the weekend and now holds the new lap record. Lucas di Grassi and Zane Maloney from Lola Yamaha ABT were far behind with their personal best lap times - a full 1.5 seconds off the pace.

In retrospect, di Grassi nevertheless described qualifying in 19th and 14th place as a success: "We showed a lot of potential in qualifying, as we were very close on the heels of our rivals and missed the duels by less than two tenths of a second." Mark Preston, Motorsport Director at Lola, is also optimistic: "With a lot of work ahead of us, we can see that there is still a lot on the table."

Rookie Maloney shows potential in a race to forget

The race went even worse than qualifying. Di Grassi only drove five laps before his car failed. Preston explained the breakdown shortly after the Attack Mode activation: "Unfortunately, we had a software problem with Lucas in the race, which meant he had to retire." Until then, the Brazilian had at least driven five good laps right behind the top 10.

Teammate Maloney actually delivered a good rookie debut! Despite the chaos that unfolded around him, the young Barbadian kept a cool head and was even in fifth place at one point. However, like the four Nissan drivers, Maloney's car briefly used too much power in four-wheel drive mode and he was handed a drive-through penalty. This robbed him of any chance of scoring points on his debut.

Maloney was nevertheless satisfied with the team's work and his race: "We had a good strategy and executed it well. We improved with every lap and I'm looking forward to Mexico." Lola Yamaha ABT already has the optimistic mindset needed to win, but there are still some technical issues to overcome in order to score points in Mexico on 11 January.