Written by Fleur Rogerson
Maximilian Günther triumphed at Jeddah, surging past Oliver Rowland's Nissan in a last-lap lunge to take his first DS Penske win. The race was also a special milestone in Formula E, as Pit Boost made a successful debut after several trials.
How it went
Maximilian Günther lined up in pole position for the first time since Jakarta in 2023. Alongside him was Pascal Wehrlein who had taken pole in the last two rounds, looking to take his first win of the season.
The cars headed into the first corner and Günther made a strong start. Holding the lead he pulled a gap but Wehrlein found himself fighting against Oliver Rowland and Mitch Evans.
Evans' Jaguar went in the back of the German driver and he suffered a rear tyre puncture from the contact, causing a yellow flag. The Kiwi also suffered front tyre damage, choosing to stay out on track and not take to the pits to fix it. Nico Müller also found himself in the pits after making contact with the wall and damaging his front wing badly.
Günther led the field still with an impressive two-second gap, Oliver Rowland following with Taylor Barnard close behind. De Vries was on Taylor Barnard's gearbox pushing him as he also inched his McLaren closed the the back of Rowland's Nissan.
By lap 6, Rowland had managed to close the gap between him and Günther's DS Penske but didn't find himself close enough to overtake.
Mitch Evans finally made it into the pits following the damage sustained in his collision with Wehrlein and he found himself a lap behind the rest of the pack. He also received a five-second penalty for the incident.
Safety Car
A safety car was brought out following the amount of debris on the track at turn 13. Intended to be a quick safety car it also brought the grid back together, closing the gaps at the front.
The safety car lasted three laps before it was called in. Günther led the restart cleanly once again holding his lead ahead of Rowland.
Nyck De Vries had his Mahindra behind Barnard's McLaren making a move down the inside of a corner. He moved ahead into third place. Günther slowed the pack down of the grid seemingly to save energy.
Oliver Rowland was let go by Günther as he focused on saving energy and Rowland assumed the lead. While Rowland led the pack his teammate, Norman Nato headed into the pits to serve a drive-through penalty for a technical infringement.
Jake Dennis was the first to activate his attack mode, choosing four minutes and taking the fastest lap almost immediately. In eighth place, Dennis was the test of how effective and important the attack mode would be in Jeddah.
The highlight of the Jeddah E-Prix: Successful Pit Boosts
On lap 14, the pit boost windows opened and Jake Hughes in his Maserati was the first driver to head into the pits for the stop. Following Hughes were Barnard and da Costa.
More drivers headed into the pits to have their pit boosts while those out on track took their attack modes, hoping to take advantage.
Günther and De Vries made the dive into the pits, as the second and third drivers on track they were the show of what the order was likely to be after all the stops. De Vries managed to jump ahead of Günther in the pits and then came out behind Barnard.
Barnard daringly dove down the inside of De Vries and moved ahead of the Mahindra.
Rowland came in on lap 18 and came out of the pits ahead of Hughes and Barnard, maintaining his net lead.
In the first round of stops, Günther found himself falling from second place to sixth. While Rowland out front had a gap of four seconds to those behind.
De Vries moved ahead of Barnard again and set his sights on Jake Hughes. Not long after he moved ahead of Hughes into second place.
Barnard was nearing the back of Hughes Maserati and made the pass into the first turn. Günther used his attack mode to get himself into third place but Hughes was close on the back of him.
Final 8 laps
With eight laps remaining, Oliver Rowland led from Nyck De Vries and Maximilian Günther. Taylor Barnard was stuck behind Hughes and though he was hanging onto the Maserati's gearbox he wasn't able to pass.
Barnard made it through with six laps left and began working on the gap to Günther in front. Oliver Rowland held a 4.6-second gap ahead of De Vries and though he was catching the Brit closing the gap enough to overtake would be a feat.
Maximilian Günther decided to make a move on De Vries passing the Mahindra and taking second place. Rowland activated his second attack mode alongside the top seven drivers.
Günther's pace was blinding as he closed a four-second gap down to just 1.4 seconds. Rowland went on the radio to complain about pace struggles and Günther closed the gap to under a second.
Oliver Rowland and Sam Bird were both under investigation for pit boost infringements. Barnard made the move into the final podium position once again getting ahead of De Vries' Mahindra.
Maximilian Günther closed the gap to the lead down to just three-tenths. He made a move around the outside but couldn't make it stick.
Heading into the final lap, the final three kilometres Günther closed in on the gearbox of Rowland. Taylor Barnard also found himself in the fight. Rowland managed to cover the line and with just two chicanes left Günther was looking for any opportunity.
He dove down the inside of Rowland in the final corners taking the lead and crossing the line the win the Jeddah E-Prix. Behind him was Rowland and Taylor Barnard.
תגובות