Maximilian Günther was one of the main characters of the São Paulo E-Prix. The German driver recovered from a 40-place grid penalty to finish in the top 10.
At the beginning of the Brazilian weekend, the fourth round of Season 10, the German driver received a 40-place grid penalty. The reason was the changing of the gearbox and the inverter on his Maserati. Therefore, his third position in qualifying was useless. Günther was forced to start from the back of the grid. After the first lap of the E-Prix, the German stopped at the box to serve a stop-and-go penalty of ten seconds by the FIA to complete the 4o-places drop. This is standard practice if the penalty total is longer than the grid.
Luckily for Günther, the Safety Car on lap seven helped the Maserati team member to close the gap. Effectively starting the race for the German. After the Safety Car, Günther completed a total of eleven overtakes in only seven laps of the race.
On lap 16 Nick Cassidy crashed his Jaguar TCS Racing car. Fortunately for Günther, this resulted is another Safety Car. The German driver used this chance to prepare his offensive. The race resumed on lap 19, with the Maserati driver overtaking Stoffel Vandoorne on lap twenty-four. During the last section of the E-Prix, he had to pay attention to energy saving and dropped to ninth on lap thirty. At the checkered flag, he had gained thirteen positions. His words after the great performance:
His words after the race
“Today, we made the impossible, possible. Starting from last with the grid penalty, and then serving the 10-second stop-go was a big task, but we did the best job we could. I tried to save energy at the start, and then we got the Safety Car which was very important for our race and strategy. From there on, we attacked to go to the front. We did some good overtakes, I had a good feeling in the car, and we were always moving forward with really good pace. The car felt good over the whole weekend, and I think we showed that in qualifying and again in the race. To finish ninth with points from such a circumstance is just an amazing feeling. I think we can all be very proud. It was the best possible recovery and outcome from this strategic penalty, and this will put us in a good position for the rest of the season.”
Incredible drive by Max, climbing from the back of the pack to P9! Jehan showing resilience, at P16! 🏁
What a race! #maseratimsg— Maserati MSG Racing (@maseratimsg) March 16, 2024
Maximilian Günther has done several other great recovery drives in his career. For example during the New York E-Prix of 2021. He finished in the top 10 after starting from the 23rd place, with a total of thirteen overtakes completed.
The German has underlined once again his strong potential and the main role in the Maserati garage. He conquered important points for the drivers’ and teams’ championships. Now, the driver is preparing himself for the next round of the Formula E World Championship. The next race on the calendar is the Tokyo E-Prix, which will take place at the end of March in Japan.
