Jake Hughes’ departure from McLaren came as a shock in the Formula E paddock after he spent two years with the team.
The Brit joined McLaren for the 2022/23 in what was their first year in the all-electric series.
Hughes has had decent experience in several other racing categories, including GP3 and Formula 3 and in 2022, he competed in the Formula 2 championship and was a simulator driver for Mercedes and Aston Martin in Formula 1.
But his time in Formula E has proven difficult as McLaren have struggled to find performance with their Nissan powertrain.
Sam Smith has suggested that McLaren found it fairly easy to let Jake Hughes leave the team
With Hughes and Rene Rast has their driver line-up, McLaren languished in eighth in the teams’ championship in 2022/23, with Rast securing the teams’ only podium with third in Diriyah.
In Season 11, Rast was replaced by experienced driver Sam Bird, and while the 38-year-old secured victory at Sao Paolo and Hughes managed a second-place finish at Shanghai, McLaren ended the season seventh behind other customer teams Envision and Andretti.
Following the season’s conclusion, it was announced that Hughes would not be retained for the 2024/25 season, and speaking on The Race Formula E Podcast, Sam Smith has revealed what he has learned from sources within the team about the ordeal.
Discussing why McLaren have struggled since joining FE, Smith said: “I don’t know what that is. And I wonder if it is just that change from being a big manufacturer, OEM-led operation to then becoming a customer team.
“And they just haven’t quite got their framework or their constituent parts of their departments quite right because it just isn’t quite happening as well as it did for Envision as a customer team last season.
“And you know, Andretti for the last couple of seasons as well, they’re sort of, they’re third in that division, aren’t they? And they have been consistently.
“They’ve let Jake Hughes go and that doesn’t make any sense to me. You know, he’s a key asset in that team. And for whatever reason, he couldn’t get an extension or a new contract. And it looks, from what I listen to in terms of sources at the team, like they just sort of went: ‘well, all right, see you go then.’
“It’s like, well, hang on, what’s, where’s that coming from? That doesn’t make any sense to me, potentially the future of your team in terms of the driving unit there. Because, to give Sam Bird all his due, he’s had a great career, but he’s 38 next year, he’s not the future of your team, so who is?”
Jake Hughes will join Maserati for Season 11
Hughes’ destination after McLaren has been confirmed to be Maserati, with the Brit signing a deal that goes through to the start of the GEN4 era in 2026.
Maserati finished below McLaren in eighth last season with two podiums between their drivers Maximilian Gunther and Jehan Daruvala. In fact, it was Gunther who scored both podiums, which included a win in Tokyo.
The team opted for a fresh driver line-up for Season 11 as Gunther and Daravula departed the team and they brought in Hughes and Season Eight champion Stoffel Vandoorne after he was released by Penske.
McLaren are yet to confirm their replacement for Hughes, while Penske have done a straight swap and brought in Gunther to replace Vandoorne.