Zane Maloney: From Barbados Karting to Formula E with Nissan

Zane Maloney is a Barbadian racing driver who became the first Barbadian to win a race in both FIA Formula 3 and FIA Formula 2. He won the 2019 British Formula 4 title, finished second in the 2022 Formula 3 championship, and has since moved into Formula E, where he is set to race for Nissan in the 2026-27 season.

Who is Zane Maloney?

He is the son of Natalie and Sean Maloney, and racing ran in the family. His father and two uncles all competed in Barbados, and one uncle, Mark Maloney, is a property developer and chairman of Bushy Park Circuit.

He was raised in Christ Church and started karting at the age of three. As a boy he was a keen follower of formula racing and rallying, and he idolised Lewis Hamilton. He saw Hamilton win the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix with his father, and after his karting years he moved to Farnham, England.

A Barbados karting start, a British F4 title, Formula 2 wins and now a Formula E seat with Nissan.

How did Maloney start in karting?

Maloney began racing in North America at the age of twelve. After several karting titles in Barbados and America, he moved to Europe to compete for Ricky Flynn Motorsport, which gave him a platform for the international karting scene.

His 2018 season produced strong results across three championships. He was fourth in the CIK-FIA Karting European Championship, fifth in the Karting World Championship, and third in both the German Championship and the WSK Champions Cup.

Why was the 2019 British F4 title important?

Maloney won the 2019 British Formula 4 Championship with Carlin Motorsport, beating Sebastian Alvarez by 20 points at the Brands Hatch season finale. He became the first Barbadian to win a championship in Europe, and the first rookie to win the series title outright in its history.

His first single-seater season opened with a double podium at Brands Hatch before he took his first wins at Thruxton. A double victory followed at Croft, and then he took a hat-trick of wins at Oulton Park, the first driver since Jamie Caroline to win all three races in one weekend there.

A weekend at Snetterton was harder. He finished only third, but he returned to winning ways at Knockhill, where he took the first race, before the season finale at Brands Hatch.

Before the end of 2019 he had also contested the final two rounds of the Radical Caribbean Cup. He won all three races at Bushy Park in Barbados and two races at South Dakota in Guyana, a strong return to racing in the region.

The championship itself was cut short in 2020, when it was cancelled after its first round because of the coronavirus pandemic. Maloney returned to the series in 2022 as a guest driver at the Frankie Boodram Wallerfield International Raceway round in Trinidad and Tobago.

How did Maloney perform in Euroformula Open and Formula Regional?

In 2020 Maloney rejoined Carlin for the Euroformula Open Championship. He scored his first podium in the second race at the Hungaroring, after finishing fourth the day before, and his only other podium of that year came at Paul Ricard. He ended the season eighth in the standings, one place and one point behind his teammate, Ido Cohen.

The 2021 Formula Regional European Championship with R-ace GP was his breakthrough in that category. His first podium came at Imola, where he finished third in the second race of the opening round, and he later became the first Caribbean driver to win in Monaco.

At the Principality he finished second in the first race and then won the second from pole position. He ended the season fourth in the standings with 170 points, one win and seven podiums across the campaign.

He was on the podium again at Paul Ricard, took a double podium at Spa-Francorchamps, and added two further third places at the Red Bull Ring and Monza.

How did Maloney go in FIA Formula 3?

Maloney joined Trident for the 2022 FIA Formula 3 Championship, after a post-season test with the reigning team champions in late 2021. His maiden pole position came at Imola in rainy conditions, and he was a regular front-runner after that.

The season began with a difficult weekend in Bahrain. He finished fourth in the sprint race, but an engine problem ended his feature race on the opening lap. After a sixth place in the Imola sprint, a spin at the safety car restart in the feature cost him a chance of victory.

His first podium came at Budapest, where he barely held off Oliver Bearman for second place in a mixed-conditions feature race. He then took pole for the Zandvoort round and won the race despite losing the early lead to Victor Martins.

Barcelona was a frustrating round. He missed the weighbridge during qualifying, which sent him to the pit lane for both races. He made up 26 positions across the two races, but it was his first non-scoring round of the season. At Silverstone he qualified third and finished seventh in the sprint, before Oliver Bearman tipped him into a spin on the opening lap of the feature race and his points chance disappeared.

The Monza finale gave him another front-row start and a third win of the year. He charged from eleventh to fourth in the sprint, then defended against early challenges from Martins and Alexander Smolyar before holding off Bearman for the win.

Maloney finished second in the drivers' standings, five points behind Martins. He had achieved three wins, two poles, four podiums and 134 points across the season, and he received the official FIA Rookie of the Year award at the end of the year.

In 2023 he returned to Formula 3 for Rodin Carlin, taking part in the Jerez post-season test and then the Macau Grand Prix, where he finished eighth in the main race.

What happened in Formula 2?

Maloney's Formula 2 career began with a call-up to Trident for the Yas Marina season finale in 2022. He returned to the series in 2023 with Rodin Carlin, partnering Enzo Fittipaldi, and later joined Rodin Motorsport for 2024.

The 2023 season was up and down. In Bahrain he claimed third place and his first Formula 2 podium after a charge through the field in the feature race. He later finished second at Silverstone and third at Monaco, and he crashed at Monza when Roy Nissany hit him, but he emerged unscathed.

He ended 2023 tenth in the standings with 96 points and four podiums, 28 points behind Fittipaldi. Results were mixed across the season.

The 2024 season produced his best Formula 2 results. He qualified third at the start of the season and took his maiden win early in the year. He then won the next race, and no driver had won both races of a weekend since Oliver Bearman had done so.

A poor qualifying session in Jeddah left him 16th, but he recovered to fourth in the sprint and seventh in the feature. In Melbourne a costly mistake on the gravel dropped him out of the points in the sprint, although a clean feature race brought third place. At that stage he led the standings by 14 points.

He took his maiden pole at Monza, and by the end of the campaign his results had given him fourth in the standings with two wins, one pole, seven podiums and 140 points. He missed the Abu Dhabi finale because he had signed for Formula E, and Leonardo Fornaroli replaced him.

Why did Maloney move into Formula E?

In April 2023 Maloney took part in a Formula E rookie test at Tempelhof Airport with Andretti Autosport. He then made his first practice appearance at Rome, and later that year he became the team's reserve and development driver for the 2023-24 season.

He later ran for Andretti in the rookie free practice session at Misano and in the rookie test in Berlin.

On 25 September 2024 he announced that he would leave Formula 2 to compete in the 2024-25 Formula E World Championship with ABT Yamaha Lola. He partnered Lucas di Grassi, the 2016-17 champion, but he was the only driver not to score points that season. His best result was eleventh at Shanghai.

He kept his seat for 2025-26 alongside di Grassi. For 2026-27 he moved to Nissan, where he will partner Oliver Rowland, the 2024-25 champion.

Did Maloney race in Formula One?

Not in races. He joined the Red Bull Junior Team in December 2022 and was Red Bull Racing's reserve driver in 2023. In January 2024 he joined the Sauber Academy and served as reserve driver for Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber during the 2024 season.

He announced his departure from Sauber in December 2024, after deciding to race full-time in Formula E. In August 2024 he had also taken part in an IndyCar test with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing at Indianapolis.

Zane Maloney career summary