Difficult Double Header for Maximilian Günther in Jeddah

The first double header of the season started off in the best way for Maximilian, setting the pace in Free Practice and having a good feel with the car. The competitiveness of the DS PENSKE was clear for the competition to see, and Maximilian was ready to put in some great races to see him back in contention for the 2025/26 FIA Formula E World Championship.

With the two races in the weekend, FIA Formula E would see the return of Pit Boost in race one, the mandatory 30 second recharge that would be the linchpin of Maximilian’s strategy in the opening event. New to this season, races containing Pit Boost would only have one activation of Attack Mode, so pairing up the two and activating them at the best moment could very quickly give you an advantage on the competition.

Everything was going Maximilian and DS PENSKE’s way as, for the first time this season, Maximilian made it out of the Group Stages of Qualifying and into the Duels. He made it all the way to the final, narrowly missing out on his first pole position of Season 12 by a tenth of a second.

Looking to repeat what he’d done this time last year at this circuit, Maximilian had a great launch off the line, and due to a mistake by the pole sitter he found himself in the lead by the first corner. With his teammate close behind, it was the perfect start for DS PENSKE who could control the race from the front. Maximilian’s eyes were locked on that first Season 12 win.

Unfortunately, the strategy called for Maximilian to take his one Attack Mode before heading into the pits for his Pit Boost. Although giving him track position after the stops, it left him vulnerable to an attacking field behind him in the closing stages of the race. Managing energy, he was unable to fight back as cars on Attack Mode used the extra kilowatts of energy to make the pass. A race that should have been his first win of the season ended in a disappointing blow as he crossed the line P11, outside of the points.

The positive of a double race weekend is there is a second opportunity to learn from Race One and come back stronger in the second. Race Two did not include Pit Boost and returned to the usual two Attack Mode deployments. Practice saw Maximilian and the team look at the setup of the car from Friday and make some final tweaks that could hopefully put them in a stronger position come qualifying and the second race.

Maximilian once again made it through to the Qualifying Duels, but was knocked out of the quarter finals. Due to him setting the second fastest lap time of those eliminated in the quarter finals, he took to sixth on the grid.

In the second race, it was difficult from the start. The changes that DS PENSKE and he had made to the car left it feeling unbalanced and difficult to drive. This necessitated a strategy adjustment as Maximilian fell down the grid, opting to conserve energy through the start – as they attempted to alter the car balance from what they can do in race on the steering wheel – and attack with additional energy on their competitors at the end. They had the energy, but unfortunately Maximilian had lost too much time on the field to be able to get back into the points before the chequered flag. FIA Formula E has just over a month break before the sixth round in Madrid, a new circuit for the championship. Maximilian and DS PENSKE will take this time to go through the data from the first five races and refine the DS E-TENSE FE25. The positives are that the car has competitive potential, and both Maximilian and the team will be looking to capitalise on that as they go into the next leg of the championship.

RESULTS

Free Practice 1 – P1, 1:15.714

Free Practice 2 – P7, 1:15.750

Qualifying – P2 (Duels, final, 1:15.447)

Race – P11

Free Practice 3 – P5, 1:15.398

Qualifying – P6 (Duels, quarter finals, 1:15.603)

Race – P11

Championship Standing – P16 (8 points)

MAXIMILIAN GÜNTHER:

“We hit the ground tunning and were feeling very good and very fast. Going into qualifying [for Race One] we felt very confident that we could deliver and that is exactly what we did. The group was really fast and the margins were very narrow all the way through, even with Montara for pole it was super close. He was a little faster than us today but overall I was really happy with how the car was feeling and how we were performing. I was really positive about the race and the weekend as a whole.

“Qualifying on the front row during a race like Jeddah, where race pace is high and the competition in qualifying was super tight, is always good. We had great track position and I had a lot of confidence going into the race. The first third of the race was excellent; we were leading, had track position with Taylor and me together, were smart with energy consumption. It was all really going to plan. Then the strategy became very compromising. I would say we didn’t have our best day with strategy for race one, and it left us very exposed after the early Attack Mode. I was on the back foot from that point, trying to recover the positions lost, and sadly we couldn’t make them back up. It was a really disappointing end to what should have been a great race, at least a podium, and bring back a lot of points for the team and I.

“That is the way with racing though: sometimes the call is right, and sometimes it’s wrong. We win and lose together and sadly today was a day where we lost. But we knew we had pace, we knew the car was strong here and we had race two to make up for the mistake.

“Once again, the day started well getting into the qualifying duels in another very tightly contested group. But I knew, unlike in the first qualifying duels, that getting into the semi finals would be tough. Sixth felt good and reflective of what we could achieve. The quarter final didn’t give us the high temperature we were expecting, so the setup was slightly compromised going into that duel. We still believed firmly that we were in the race starting P6.

“But once the race has started, I knew it was going to be tough. After the first few corners I could feel the car was different from the first race. I had a lot of understeer so had very little confidence in my front axle from the start. This forced us to move to a long game strategy – trying to save more energy than the top ten, those in front of me, to have the energy to attack at the end. Sadly I couldn’t achieve the delta needed to be in a position to reclaim the positions I lost with the race going much faster than we expected it to. A disappointing end to a weekend that felt so strong, that we had such good one-lap pace. It felt like we left a lot out there, unable to capitalise with wrong strategy calls. To come away with no points out of these two races is tough, especially after making it into the qualifying duels for both races, starting on the front row for one of them. We definitely deserved more from this weekend.”