X44 closes after three XE seasons

After racing since the inaugural season in 2021, X44 will no longer be on the Extreme E grid for 2024.

Owned by Formula One great Lewis Hamilton, the team quickly established themselves as one of the top outfits. After losing the 2021 title on a tiebreaker, ironically to Hamilton’s old F1 rival Nico Rosberg’s Rosberg X Racing, Cristina Gutiérrez and Sébastien Loeb broke through for the 2022 championship. Fraser McConnell replaced Loeb in 2023, and he and Gutiérrez won twice at Hydro X Prix Race #1 and Island X Prix II Race #2 en route to a fourth in points.

X44’s departure comes on the heels of Rodin Motorsport fully taking over the assets of Carlin Racing. Carlin became X44’s technical partner for 2023, replacing Prodrive.

“After three years as part of the Extreme E family, we’re today announcing that X44 will be departing the series,” reads a team statement. “We’ve had an incredible three seasons competing as X44, winning multiple races and even a world championship.

“Thank you to our drivers Cristina, Fraser, and Seb, and all our talented teammates who worked hard to help us achieve everything we did. Even more than the results on track, we’re proud to have been part of a bigger conversation about how to make motorsport more sustainable, of our success in giving people from all kinds of backgrounds an opportunity to thrive in this team, and of the legacy our team owner Lewis will leave behind with the Racing for All programme.

“Although we won’t be competing ourselves in 2024, we’ll be cheering on the series from the sidelines and keeping an eye on the exciting developments at Extreme H.

“Thank you for all your support.”

X44 ends their three-year sting with four victories and ten podiums. They were known as X44 Vida Carbon Racing from late 2022 to 2023.

Gutiérrez joined McLaren for the 2024 Extreme E season, while McConnell has not revealed if he will continue with the series.