ABT Lola have confirmed the signing of Zane Maloney to join the Formula E grid from the 2024/25 season, so Full Oversteer takes a look into everything you need to know.
The ABT team gained a new title partner ahead of Season 11 as Lola came aboard to replace Cupra. ABT are even set to compete with a Formula E powertrain which Lola is developing in partnership with Yamaha and have now signed Maloney to partner Lucas Di Grassi in the car.
Maloney is the first full debutant confirmed to join the Formula E grid in 2024/25 as he joins ABT Lola after competing for the Formula 2 title. But he has already sealed a taste of the all-electric series having tested for Andretti, with Maloney always open to leaving the F1 ladder.
Zane Maloney will debut in Formula E for ABT Lola in the 2024/25 season
Maloney had been on the ladder to Formula 1 since the start of his single-seater career with Carlin in British F4. He even won the British F4 Championship on debut back in 2019 with 10 wins and 15 podiums over 30 races after stepping up from go-karts without any global titles.
Despite challenging for the OK class title during the 2018 WSK Champions Cup and the X30 Senior class in SKUSA SuperNationals in his final season in go-karts, Maloney never secured an international karting title. His best results were third and second in those championships.
Maloney had started racing in go-karts at the age of four and dominated the domestic scene in his native, Barbados. Competing in the Barbados Karting Association championship led to multiple titles before Maloney moved onto the global stage racing in North America in 2016.
Zane Maloney won the British F4 title in his first year in single-seaters
Success soon arrived once in single-seaters, however, as Maloney took a maiden podium on debut in British F4 at Brands Hatch. His first win then arrived at Thruxton in race eight of the 2019 season, also sparking a run that saw Maloney win seven races through the next eight.
Winning the British F4 title on debut further saw Maloney move into the Euroformula Open Championship in 2020 but he struggled to match the same instant impact. A move to FRECA in 2021 also failed to yield much success, but Maloney’s rise continued in Formula 3 in 2022.
Maloney had even failed to win another single-seater title after his British F4 triumph before receiving an offer to join ABT Lola in Formula E. The closest he came was finishing second in the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2022 when Victor Martins took the crown by five points.
Maloney eclipsed Oliver Bearman to be the 2022 FIA F3 vice-champion after a superb finish to his season. Driving for Trident, he won the Feature Races at each of the final three rounds at Spa-Francorchamps, Zandvoort and Monza after failing to win any race previous to those.
Trident would further award Maloney his Formula 2 debut at the final round of 2022 in Abu Dhabi. But he reunited with Carlin under the Rodin Carlin name for the 2023 season with a full-time drive. Staying at Rodin for 2024 also saw Maloney launch an F2 championship hunt.
Zane Maloney has been a Red Bull and a Sauber junior driver
Narrowly missing out on the 2022 Formula 3 title to Martins was still enough for Maloney to join his first Formula 1 driver academy as Red Bull came calling. He also became a Formula 1 reserve driver for Red Bull and AlphaTauri but 2023 proved to be his only year in their ranks.
Red Bull dropped Maloney after he failed to win a race and only took four podiums in 26 F2 races as a rookie. But their decision offered Sauber a chance to swoop and Maloney moved to the Swiss squad’s driver academy – also as a Formula 1 reserve driver – in January 2024.
Now, Maloney will leave the Formula 1 junior ladder behind and move over to Formula E for ABT Lola in 2024/25. So, with that in mind, here is everything you need to know about him.
Who is new ABT Lola Formula E driver Zane Maloney?
Zane Maloney became Barbados’s first racing driver to compete in Europe and will join ABT Lola from the 2024/25 Formula E season after impressing on the junior ladder to Formula 1.
READ MORE: Every Formula E team’s confirmed 2024/25 line-up and driver’s contracts
Andretti had previously run Maloney in the Formula E rookie test following the Berlin ePrix in April 2023. He also drove for Andretti in practice for the 2023 Rome ePrix and continued as a test and reserve driver through 2023/24, which yielded further tests at Misano and in Berlin.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing also offered Maloney his first taste of IndyCar machinery in August 2024 with one test session on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
How old is Zane Maloney? When was he born?
At the time of writing, Zane Maloney is 20 years old having been born on October 2, 2003.
Where was Zane Maloney born? What is his nationality?
Zane Maloney was born in the capital city of Barbados, Bridgetown, which has a population of around 85,00 residents as of 2024 estimates. So, Maloney’s nationality is also Barbadian.
How tall is Zane Maloney? What is his height in feet?
Standing at a height of 165 cm, Zane Maloney only measures in at a height of 5 ft 4 in feet.
What’s been said about Zane Maloney? Is he any good?
ABT Lola signed a very promising young driver in Zane Maloney when he joined the team for his debut in Formula E ahead of the 2024/25 season. While he never achieved title after title in the junior series, the boy from Barbados bagged regular promotions due to his vast skills.
Maloney has also competed against other promising young drivers including Paul Aron, Luke Browning, Isack Hadjar and Franco Colapinto in junior categories. Sauber Academy Director Beat Zehnder even waxed lyrical about Maloney’s talents when he joined their junior team.
Zehnder noted on Maloney: “His path through the junior series has been remarkable so far and, with his speed and potential, he surely makes a great addition to our talented roster.”
Till Bechtolsheimer, the chairman of Lola Cars Ltd, was also full of praise for Maloney after he agreed to join ABT Lola in Formula E. He noted: “We’re delighted to welcome Zane to the team. Zane is a hugely talented young driver with an abundance of speed and potential.
“Zane has demonstrated his abilities in a variety of junior categories and proven himself as a race winner.”
Meet Zane Maloney’s parents and his family’s connection to motorsport
Zane Maloney is the son of mother Natalie Maloney and dad Sean Maloney. His father, two uncles, two cousins and grandad were even racing drivers who predominantly competed in Barbados. His grandad Doug Maloney also competed regionally for more than five decades.
It was through his father that Zane Maloney even started racing go-karts after asking to try one out at the age of just three. He ultimately started racing aged four with a 50cc go-kart, and Sean Maloney continued to act as his son’s mechanic whilst driving in domestic series.
Lewis Hamilton inspired Zane Maloney, who copied his helmet design
Zane Maloney credits Lewis Hamilton as a big inspiration for not only his racing career but also his helmet design. While the Barbados boy initially started racing with a simple white helmet as his dad refused to buy a painted one, moving to Europe allowed more creativity.
“My very first helmet design was just a white helmet off the shelf,” Maloney told the official F2 website in June 2024. “My dad never wanted to spend money to buy a painted helmet because as far he was concerned, it doesn’t change anything on the track.
“It was only when I started getting into European World Karting and then F4 that he allowed me to get my first helmet. To be honest I had no idea what I wanted, I just put two colours on my helmet and said that looks amazing. I’ve tried since then to keep a similar design.
“Obviously, Lewis Hamilton inspired me growing up, and I had the three stripes on the side of the helmet because it was similar to what he had. I always loved how his helmets looked, so at that stage I was just trying to copy without looking like I was copying.”
Maloney changed the look of his helmet for the 2024 Formula 2 season after signing a deal for the Barbados tourism board to sponsor him. It featured a Trident and aspects natural to Barbados, including a black belly sheep, monkey, flying fish and people dancing with drums.
Zane Maloney’s career single-seater stats
As of ABT Lola confirming Zane Maloney as a Formula E driver for the 2024/25 season, the boy from Barbados is competing to win his first single-seater title since 2019 in Formula 2. So, with that in mind, here are Maloney’s career single-seater stats at the time of writing…
2019 British F4 Championship: 30 races, 10 wins, 15 podiums, 6 poles, 5 fastest laps
2019 Radical Caribbean Cup: 6 races, 5 wins, 5 podiums, 2 poles, 5 fastest laps
2020 Euroformula Open Championship: 17 races, 0 wins, 2 podiums, 0 poles, 0 fastest laps
2021 Formula Regional European Championship: 20 races, 1 win, 7 podiums, 1 pole, 1 fastest lap
2022 FIA Formula 3 Championship: 18 races, 3 wins, 4 podiums, 2 poles, 3 fastest laps
2022 FIA Formula 2 Championship: 2 races, 0 wins, 0 podiums, 0 poles, 0 fastest laps
2022 Radical Caribbean Cup: 3 races, 2 wins, 2 podiums, 1 pole, 3 fastest laps
2023 FIA Formula 2 Championship: 26 races, 0 wins, 4 podiums, 0 poles, 1 fastest lap
2024 FIA Formula 2 Championship: 24 races, 2 wins, 7 podiums, 1 pole, 0 fastest laps