Maximilian Günther battles to points in Shanghai

 Max bounces back from challenging Saturday to score points on Sunday in 2024 Shanghai E-Prix

Maserati MSG Racing driver, Maximilian Günther, bounced back from a challenging start to the 2024 Shanghai E-Prix by returning to the top 10 in the FIA Formula E World Championship’s first race weekend in China since 2019.

After securing a strong start to 2024 with a victory in Tokyo, a podium at Misano, and points in seven of the first eight races this season, Max entered Shanghai following a challenging yet promising weekend in Berlin.

He placed 13th and 10th in practice and took a positive forwards step in Qualifying for Race One, but unfortunately made an early exit after missing out on the session’s duel stages and started the race from 14th.

With Formula E’s energy-intensive peloton style of racing set to return in Shanghai, Max took a conservative approach at the start of Saturday’s race, and by taking Attack Mode early and under consuming energy, established a key competitive edge.

While this approach cost Max positions in the short-term, it yielded long-term gains and after falling to 18th, the 26-year-old quickly fought forward and used his pace and additional energy to stage an impressive recovery drive.

Although contact with Edoardo Mortara briefly halted Max’s progress, the Oberstdorf-born racer carved through the field to move into the top 10 and was locked in a hard-fought battle with Jean-Eric Vergne and Oliver Rowland.

Max came out on top in this first melee to run as high as seventh but lost two positions in the closing laps to take ninth at the chequered flag before receiving a 10-second time penalty post-race, which relegated him to 21st in the final classification.

By carefully analysing performance overnight, however, Max successfully unlocked additional pace on Sunday – a change which was immediately reflected in FP3 where he set the fourth-fastest time.

In Qualifying for Race Two, Max again launched his efforts from Group A and was on course to advance to the duels but unfortunately missed out on the next stage by only 0.018 seconds and started from 10th.

After holding position off the line, Max strategically fell outside of the top 10, again with the target of building an energy advantage, and used this buffer to push into the points and build a gap before taking his first of two Attack Modes on lap four.

Upon rejoining the race, Max was locked in a battle with Vergne and overtook the Frenchman in the first of what would be several exchanges as part of an ongoing on-track battle until the chequered flag.

With his second Attack Mode on lap eight, Max was able to successfully move forward to seventh but unfortunately lost the position to Vergne on lap 20 of 28. He pressured the Frenchman to the finish but was unable to overtake and finished eighth.

As a result, Max added four points to his FIA Formula E World Drivers’ Championship efforts, and with 69 points on the board, holds eighth in the standings. His season will resume in Portland, USA, on June 29-30 for the penultimate race weekend of 2024.

 

 

Maximilian Günther, Maserati MSG Racing Driver

“Starting from 14th [in Race One] the goal was to save some energy, build an energy advantage, and then drive into the points which is what we achieved before the penalty. In the end, it was a pretty wild race with a lot of fighting, but it was unfortunate that we couldn’t gain more places because we were in a good place with energy, but overtaking wasn’t easy.

“Not a bad day in the office [in Race Two]. We executed our strategy well and did a good job to move into the points to finish eighth. The car felt great, and we made a solid step forward from where we were in Race One. A lot of elements went well but I think that there are some things we can review, but all in all, we can be happy and I’m already looking forward to Portland.”

 

 

2024 Shanghai E-Prix Maximilian Günther Results
Free Practice One // P13
Free Practice Two // P10
Qualifying One // P14 [1:14.383, Group A]
Race One // P21
Free Practice Three // P4
Qualifying Two // P10 [1:14.672, Group A]
Race Two // P8
Championship // P8 [69 points]