Rodin Motorsport’s Zane Maloney is full of confidence after an impressive double race victory in the 2024 Formula 2 season-opener in Bahrain and ahead of Round 2 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the Barbadian driver spoke with Motorsport Week regarding his change of mentality heading into his second F2 season and his race-by-race approach to claim the coveted title.
Maloney was an F2 rookie this time last year and ended the 2023 campaign 10th in the Drivers’ Championship with four podium finishes.
But from pre-season, the Rodin driver immediately looked like a stronger competitor and emerged as the fastest driver of the three-day Bahrain test in February.
This pace translated well in racing action, where last weekend Maloney put on an impressive display from eighth on the grid in the Bahrain Sprint to claim his maiden win, before snatching the holeshot from third on the grid in the Feature to double his win tally for the F2 curtain raiser, becoming the first driver since the formation of GP2 in 2005 to win both season-opening races in the secondary single-seater formula.
“It feels amazing,” Maloney told Motorsport Week.
“The goal is to always start off the championship as strong as you can. Everyone’s target for the weekend is to be on pole and win the feature race.
“So that was great to win the feature race. Of course, I wasn’t on pole, so it wasn’t a perfect weekend. But yeah, to win the sprint race as well was a big bonus and puts us in very good spirits going into this weekend in [Jeddah].
Maloney credits a change in mentality for transforming from the driver who finished 10th in the standings in 2023 to one who is now an early title favourite in 2024.
“I learned so much last year,” he said.
“Of course, I learned as a driver, but to be honest, more outside of the driving things mindset-wise, just being in the correct mindset each session is what I learned the most last year.
“That’s just a big positive from my side, just understanding what I need to do to perform each weekend.
“I know that I’m a good driver. I know that I’m one of the fastest on a race track, but performing to be the fastest is a different story. And I’m now trying to figure out how I can do that more consistently.”
A double win has granted Maloney an early 12-point lead in the Drivers’ standings and talk has already begun regarding his title candidacy, but whilst the Barbadian ace admits that “of course, my goal is the championship,” he is instead taking each session as it comes.
“If my goal wasn’t the championship, I’d be at home in Barbados doing something else,” Maloney said. “So for sure, the goal is the championship.
“The goal is to win every race of the year. Of course, that’s not realistic enough with the chaos and such amazing drivers aand teams.
“I think the only way you can win a championship and win races is if you go session by session, lap by lap, day by day with the team and trying to get the maximum out of everyone around you and the car that you’re driving.
“So that’s our main goal. And then all those other highs and positives will come after that.”
After pre-season testing and Round 1 both taking place in Bahrain, teams had a sense of understanding regarding their new F2 machines heading into the race meet at Sakhir, but Jeddah, Saudi Arabia is a different proposition.
Still, Maloney admits that “going into any weekend in F2, you never know where you’re going to be” and while there are a lot of “unknowns” heading into Round 2 in Saudi, that was the case for Round 1, in Bahrain, “there were a lot of unknowns.”
Maloney adds: “I know that if I drive to the best of my ability and the team set the car up to the best of their ability we’ll be right at the sharp end because I trust in the people that I work with and vice versa as well.
“So I think it’s just important to forget about Bahrain and focus on Jeddah as a team.
“We’ve won two races this year but just because you’ve won races before doesn’t mean that you’re going to win the next one.
“So keep our feet on the ground and the season’s only now started and we just need to keep performing.”
Another change that occurred for Maloney from 2023 into 2024 was his Driver Academy affiliation.
A former Red Bull Junior, Maloney has now made the switch to the Sauber Driver Academy and Maloney holds the Hinwil-based outfit in high regard.
“It’s going amazing with the Sauber Academy,” he said.
“I’m getting a lot of information in the background, a lot of advice, and there’s just so many knowledgeable people around me.
“So I just need to get the most out of who I’m working with.”
Maloney believes that having a renowned junior team in Rodin in his corner, the support of Sauber as well as his reserve role with Andretti’s Formula E squad the effects are “showing on the track.”
Of course, an affiliation with Sauber’s Academy opens up the prospects of testing a Formula 1 machine, but Maloney was coy on the subject and is instead continuing his focus solely on F2 with Rodin.
“If I take my focus off of what I’m doing now, then I won’t perform as well as I can in F2,” he said.
“So I’m 100% focused on F2 and doing a great job there. In the end, all these things come when you do well in what you’re doing.
“This championship is a very high level.
“So to be at a high level in a high-level championship is of course very difficult.
“[Rodin] are helping me every day. I hope that I’m helping them.
“I’m trying my best to, and so far it’s working out, but of course every day we’re learning as a team and we’re improving, everyone in the team’s improving.”
