Before Formula E hosts races nine and ten of the 2024 season in Berlin this weekend, the DS Maserati customer team announced personnel news. Cyril Blais is promoted to deputy team boss within the team. Blais is thus strengthening co-owner Jose Maria Aznar Botella, who has been filling the role of team boss since the departure of ex-team boss James Rossiter and to whom Blais will report.
Blais has been part of the Monaco-based racing team’s budget since 2021, since the Venturi era. Previously, he worked, among other things, as technical director for Arden Motorsport’s Formula 2 and Formula 3 programs. In 2023, Blais was appointed Chief Engineer and was honored by Formula E with the prestigious ‘Engineer of the Year’ award at the end of the season. In Maserati’s press release, his promotion to deputy team boss is described as a “natural career development”.
Aznar Botella: Blais deserves the chance
“Very early on, his natural leadership qualities shone through from his side of the garage,” Jose Maria Aznar Botella was quoted as saying in the team’s press release. “And since then he has played an integral role in shaping our technical structure, culture and strong sense of team spirit as well as our identity.” That’s why Botella said: “Cyril has earned this opportunity through hard work and demonstrating his ability to unite the team.”
Blais himself was also pleased in the press release: “Since joining the team prior to Season 8, I have witnessed first-hand our development and transformation as an organization and look forward to building on our existing foundation and even further in the future to grow.”
At the same time, Blais made it clear that the promotion would not affect his current responsibilities on the technical side: “Although my promotion is happening during the season, it will not change my level of focus or responsibility on the technical side.”
Aznar Botella remains team boss for the time being
The fact that co-owner Aznar Botella will remain in office as team boss will also not change for the time being. This was true at the start of the season only as a temporary solution. Aznar Botella has “other business commitments,” a Maserati PR spokeswoman said before the start of the season when asked Motorsport-Magazin.com explained. Whether anything has changed and the structure now announced will be permanent remains unclear at this point in time.
The promotion of Cyril Blais is not the only personnel change that was communicated by Maserati before the Berlin ePrix. Two further management positions were filled: Berengere Quaix as Chief Financial Officer and James Hughes Mulligan as Commercial Director.
Maserati in Formula E 2024 with light and shadow
In terms of sport, Maserati-DS can look back on a satisfactory 2024 season so far. At the halfway point of the season, the brand with the trident was the only team other than the Jaguar factory team to score points in all races. At the premiere of Formula E in Tokyo, Maximilian Günther was also able to celebrate his fifth ePrix victory and gave Maserati another podium finish after the (temporary) disqualification of Antonio Felix da Costa in Misano. With 65 points, Günther is currently in sixth place in the Drivers’ World Championship. 37 points separate the Allgäuer from leader Pascal Wehrlein.
Günther’s teammate Jehan Daruvala, the only rookie regular driver in the 2024 Formula E field, is unsurprisingly experiencing a difficult season and has so far managed to score two points in Sunday’s race in Misano (P19 in the World Championship). In the team rankings, this results in sixth place, 105 points behind the leading Jaguar factory team.