Maximilian Günther arrived at the Nurburgring with an eleven-point deficit in the championship standings to Lando Norris, but a hugely disappointing weekend for the German left him seventy-three points back leaving the circuit.
The Prema Powerteam driver struggled throughout the weekend, and failed to score points in either of the first two races, and although he fought back from a lowly grid slot to finish seventh in race three, he lost a lot of ground to Norris.
Günther remains uncertain to why he and Prema were so far off the pace in Germany, but he was sure that it was not the weekend the championship contending German had been hoping for.
“It was a weekend to forget,” admitted Günther. “We had a lot of trouble with the car’s balance even at the start in practice when it was dry. We had even less grip in the wet, so our pace was a real problem in the second quali.
“The result was two disappointing grid slots for races two and three. I had some bad luck in the first round when I damaged the front wing in a collision. My charge up the field from fourteenth to seventh position made up for things to some degree in the third fixture, but ultimately, it was nowhere near how we thought we would do.
“I give it my all in every session, and when we produce such results, then we have to investigate the reasons for it. As yet, we still don’t know the exact cause. One pointer for us is that it was much colder here than on the other race weekends, which could have been a reason for not getting the tyres into their working window at any stage.”
Despite the setback at the Nurburgring, Günther insists he has not thrown in the towel in the championship battle despite being seventy-three points adrift of Norris. The German believes the Red Bull Ring will offer better opportunities for points, and he knows the title can swing again if Norris has a bad weekend.
“We must continue to work hard and prepare for the next race,” said Günther. “New circuit, new opportunities. We’ve had plenty of strong weekends this season, otherwise, we wouldn’t be where we are up front.
“The stage at which we throw in the towel in the championship battle has not yet been reached by a long chalk. I’ll go on fighting to the end, you can bet on that, for sure!”
