In the second part of Motorsport Week’s exclusive interview with Till Bechtolsheimer, the Lola chairman reveals more detail about the signing of rookie sensation Zane Maloney, and the Formula E team’s realistic expectations for the remainder of Season 11.
One of the first issues to navigate for the Lola-Yamaha-ABT team was to find a replacement for Nico Mueller, who left to join Andretti.
The motorsport community, particularly within Formula E, were surprised to learn the man chosen was Formula 2 driver Zane Maloney.
The Bajan was in the midst of a title battle in the premier Formula 1 feeder series alongside Paul Aron and new F1 signings Isack Hadjar and Gabriel Bortoleto, the latter eventually taking the championship.
Maloney opted to forego his title aspirations to make the switch to FE in what was a demonstration of, not just Lola’s pulling power, but further indications that FE’s legitimacy as a top-level championship is more prevalent than ever.
Along with Bortoleto, Maloney made the jump from Sauber’s academy to take-up the drive alongside FE’s most long-standing driver, Lucas di Grassi.
Bechtolsheimer has nothing but praise for what he has seen of Maloney so far.
“I think it’s a really interesting driver lineup with the most experienced driver on the grids and the only real rookie,” he said.
“I mean, we’ve got a couple of rookies this year, but Zane is the only one who up until the first race of the season had never raced in a Formula E car before and that’s a really interesting dynamic.
“I think it’s a great dynamic for where we’re at with Lola, as part of this multi-year campaign. Right now, we need someone like Lucas with the experience that he brings and the focus that he brings, and allowing a Lucas and a Zane, who are at such different points in their careers… I think they work really, really well together.
“And there’s a lot of positives. We want everyone pulling in the same direction, developing the car together, we have that dynamic with those two.
“To have the opportunity to work with who I think is going to be the next big talent in Formula E is fantastic. He did exceptionally well in all of the junior formulas, including Formula 2. I mean, he was leading the championship for half of the season last year, and I think demonstrated that he’s got the chops to go up against this rising crop of drivers, a lot of whom are going into Formula 1 this year, and coaxing him over to Formula E, I think, is a real coup, not just for Lola, but for Formula E as a championship as well.”
Lola ‘impressed’ by ‘mature’ Maloney
A number of names including Dan Ticktum, Sacha Fenestraz and Kelvin van der Linde were all thought to have been contacted or at least considered, but shocked everyone by making the acquisition of Formula 2 talent Maloney.
Bechtolsheimer confirms that many names were sounded-out, but attributes showed by Maloney in their early conversations was enough to convince them.
“Yeah, I would say he was always on the shortlist and I think when you’re putting a shortlist together of drivers, I don’t think you rank the shortlist so much because until you’ve spoken to them and looked into them in more detail, it’s really just who would we be really excited to have.
“And there was a very small handful of young drivers that we were taking a look at and part of the problem with young drivers… you’re not hiring them into Formula 1, which is [what] they’ve grown up since little kids to wanting to do… one thing and one thing only, and that’s Formula 1, and we’re not a Formula 1 team.
“I get it. I respect it. I’m sure I’d be no different as a young driver, but the level of maturity that Zane demonstrated from the very first time we talked to him about how he thought about his career and how he felt Formula E could play a role in that was really, really impressive.
“When you talk to the Lola and the ABT engineers who work with Zane, they’re just so impressed with how mature of a driver he is, and Formula E is so different to what any of those younger drivers have had to deal with.
“It’s very different to Formula 1. You’re managing a lot of different things in the car. It takes time, and it takes, I think, a certain personality, a certain level of intelligence to be able to maximise [a package], and [in] Formula E [you] can’t be successful in this, and I think we’ve got that in Zane.”
Lola’s ‘good base package’ something to work towards in terms of progress
At the time of this interview – over the weekend of the Mexico City E-Prix – Lola had so far yet scored any points, and after rounds three and four in Jeddah, this is still the case, but there are many things to be positive about for the team.
Maloney qualified in the top 10 in Mexico, and in the season-opener in Brazil, he found himself running in the top six for a portion of the race, but his hopes were dashed after the red flag situation caused a chaotic change in the order.
But Bechtolsheimer sees much to be pleased about so far, saying that he is ‘”focused on where we are in the field come London, the last race of the season, not the first or second.
“I just want us to be making progress,” he added. “There are so many things that we need data on that right now, yes, we want to be competitive, don’t get me wrong, and the team is working incredibly hard to make sure that we get some good results here in the early part of the season.
“But the most important thing for us and for Yamaha is to collect data, make improvements, demonstrate to ourselves that we’re on the right path.
“I think Sao Paulo was that in a nutshell as well. We were disappointed that we didn’t end up with points. The fact that that was even a possibility in our very first race in Formula E, I think shows we’ve got a good base package.
“We’ve now just got to make these, not even baby steps, these significant steps every time we’re out and that’s what our main focus is.”
On the question of where Lola will take itself next, Bechtolsheimer is coy on what are the following steps but teases that the name will be seen elsewhere soon.
“We haven’t announced anything. Obviously, other than Formula E at this point, but I’m confident you’ll be hearing new announcements from us in 2025 about incremental projects,” he said.
“There’s one that’s a definite already, not ready to announce it yet. It’s less motorsport focused in terms of going to another series, but I think it’s an interesting product.
“But in terms of racing in other series, I can assure you we’re working very hard on making that a reality.
“Lola has so much heritage in so many different forms of motorsport that we want to be going back to as many of them as possible.”
READ MORE – Exclusive: Lola supremo says Formula E entry was ‘no-brainer’
