James Rossiter hangs up his helmet to become team principal at Maserati Formula E team – Connections to both parties in the project have helped
Maserati will have a new team principal on its Formula E debut – and it will be another former racing driver. James Rossiter takes over from Jerome D’Ambrosio at the previous Venturi team. Maserati enters Formula E for the first time in 2023
It’s not the 39-year-old’s first functional role in Formula E. Up to now, Rossiter has been sports director at DS Techeetah. This is an internal change within the group, because Maserati, like the Citroen subsidiary DS, belongs to Stellantis, the merger of PSA and Fiat-Chrysler.
However, he will end his active career. He is currently an active driver as part of Peugeot’s hypercar programme, for which he was originally announced as a replacement driver. Because Kevin Magnussen switched to Formula 1 at short notice at the beginning of the year, he stepped in and drove the races at Monza and Fuji.
There will be an end to that in future. Rossiter explains to selected media, including sister portal ‘Autosport’: “I’m going to end my career as an active driver so that I can put all my energy into this project. I think this is the right way to go.”
“Peugeot and Stellantis have supported me to take on this new role. I will not continue driving for Peugeot.” The World Endurance Championship (WEC) still has one race remaining in Bahrain on 12 November. With the Formula E pre-test not taking place until December, he should still be able to attend the WEC finale.
Where the audacious come together
We’re delighted to announce @Rossiterracing as the new Team Principal of Maserati MSG Racing ahead of the 2022/23 ABB @fiaformulae World ChampionshipABBFormulaE BornOnTrack pic. twitter.com/d32EOdd6i7
– Maserati MSG Racing (@Maserati_FE) October 7, 2022
Once he had a foot in the Formula One door as a test driver with Super Aguri and Honda, but it never panned out. He went to Japan and took several wins in Super GT and a podium in Super Formula. Added to that were sporadic WEC starts, mostly for Colin Kolles’ team.
Three years working towards the step
His role at DS Techeetah has been an important preparation for the Brit: “These three years have prepared me perfectly for this step. It’s been a nice process to make the step from being a racer, to working with team management, to working with the sporting arm of the team at the track.”
“It has provided me with important insights into what it takes to run a team. It has allowed me to develop the skills I needed for this role over three years. I am very grateful to them for that. “
Also likely to have helped were his contacts with the Monaco Sports Group (MCG), which is behind the Venturi team: “There is a connection that goes back to the end of Season 3 (2016/17). At that time I was in talks with Venturi and tested for them.” Venturi chose Edoardo Mortara as their driver for 2017/18.
Rossiter’s contact with partners Scott Swid and Jose Maria Aznar has never been broken. The fact that their team is now doing the stakes for a Stellantis daughter made the choice all the more logical. “It was a foregone conclusion and for my career this has always been a goal,” said the new team boss. The drivers for Maserati MCG Racing have not been decided at this stage.
