Maximilian Günther returns to the podium in 2024 Misano E-Prix

Maserati MSG Racing driver, Maximilian Günther, secured a podium finish at the 2024 Misano E-Prix to score his second top three finish in Season 10 of the FIA Formula E World Championship.

The weekend, which marked the Maserati brand’s home race and the second double-header event of the current campaign, was defined by extensive energy saving. After finishing third in Race One, Max placed 12th in Race Two after receiving a five-second time penalty.

The weekend, however, started in challenging circumstances for the 26-year-old after a technical issue cost him valuable track time in Free Practice One. But the Oberstdorf-born driver didn’t allow this to impact his weekend.

After completing consistent laps in FP2, Max displayed strong pace in qualifying to advance to the session’s duel stages. This placed him seventh on the grid for Saturday’s race.

Due to Misano’s high levels of energy consumption, both races saw the return of the peloton – a style of competition unique to Formula E where drivers utilise slipstreaming to save energy during the opening phase of a race before attacking in the final stages.

To save energy as early as possible, Max settled into the field at the start of Race One, dropping to ninth, although he quickly recovered to the front of the grid.

On lap three, he performed a critical overtake to strengthen his position, rising from seventh to second before activating Attack Mode to rejoin in fourth.

From here, Max remained as a key contender, taking the chequered flag in fifth to be promoted to fourth as a result of a time penalty for Jean-Eric Vergne. A post-race disqualification for Antonio Felix da Costa, caused by a technical breach, later moved Max up to third.

For Sunday’s race, Max qualified 12th after narrowly missing out on the duels by 0.089 seconds but delivered another clean and competitive start to rise to seventh by the end of lap one.

By using Attack Mode to his advantage, Max strengthened his place inside the top 10 throughout the race and was on course for a top five finish.

Unfortunately, a late racing incident cost him valuable track position, and after finishing ninth at the flag, a post-race time penalty demoted Max to 12th.

As a result of his Misano E-Prix performance, which marked the 10th podium of his Formula E career, Max holds fifth in the World Drivers’ Championship with 63 points. His season will resume on 27 April 2024, for the Monaco E-Prix.

“Saturday’s race was wild, and I’m happy to finish third. We managed the race well, took Attack Mode at the right time, and made some good strategic moves to be in the fight when it mattered. Obviously, these kinds of races are very chaotic and there are a lot of things going on – we’re overtaking, and being overtaken, but we responded well, especially in regard to the weekend we had experienced up until that point. FP1 and FP2 were tough for us, and I don’t think the weekend could have been any more difficult in terms of the challenges thrown at us. But our reaction has been brilliant, our pace was strong in qualifying, and to eventually finish third is mega.

“[In Race Two] we didn’t get the outcome we deserved. We were able to move into a strong position in the race, despite some issues that challenged us and ran in the top five for a long time. At the end we faced a racing incident with a competitor that put us out of the points. Still many positives to take from this weekend, a podium finish and good race pace. We’ll regroup in the coming days and will come in strong shape to our home race in Monaco.”