It wasn’t the season-opening race that Maximilian Günther was expecting at the Mexico City E-Prix, with the German having failed to make it into the duels and into the points places during the race.
Many had expected the star of pre-season testing to excel at the first race of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, with Maserati MSG Racing having looked strong during pre-season. In Günther’s and Maserati’s defence, the teams that looked strong ahead of the season weirdly struggled at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, with the high altitude in Mexico City having made getting the new Hankook tyres up to temperature a challenge.
After starting seventeenth, Günther demonstrated strong pace during the race to climb six places, with the “efficiency” of the Maserati Tipo Folgore having looked better than most. He ultimately missed out on points by a whisker, after finishing eleventh.
Whilst Günther was likely disappointed with the outcome of the first round, having struggled to find the tyres “sweet spot”, he is at least pleased by the data that the team gained from the start of the Gen3 era.
“This weekend has been tough for us as a team. With the high altitude it was quite difficult to get the tyres into the sweet spot which impacted our pace in qualifying. Starting from the back, our pace in the race was much better and our efficiency and strategy proved to be competitive.
“I was able to move forward several places, but unfortunately, we were just short of the top 10. We’ve gained a lot of data from this weekend, and now, we just need to examine our performance, focus on our progress, and come back stronger in Riyadh.”
“I found it quite challenging to find a good balance” – Edoardo Mortara
On the other side of the Monte-Carlo-based team’s garage, it was a miserable weekend for Edoardo Mortara. One of the star’s of the Gen2 era of Formula E found the first weekend of Gen3 extremely challenging, with the Swiss driver having struggled to “find a good rhythm in the car”.
Mortara qualified sixteenth and actually made a solid start to the race, after overtaking René Rast on the opening lap. He gained a further place after Dan Ticktum was forced into the pits to serve a penalty, before his own race came to a sudden end. The thirty-six year-old span at the opening corner and slid right into the tyre barrier, ending his race on the eighteenth lap. The spin was as a result of a sudden “snap of oversteer”, leaving Mortara helpless.
Mortara was clearly disappointed with how the weekend in Mexico City went after the team had looked so good during pre-season; however, like his team-mate he’s hopeful that the data gathered will result in a better performance at the upcoming Diriyah E-Prix.
“This weekend wasn’t our best. After the pace we had in Valencia, I found it difficult to find a good rhythm in the car, especially over one lap. I managed to come back in the race and until the crash, I think we were in a good position, especially with our pace and on the energy side.
“I found it quite challenging to find a good balance on the tyres, and a snap of oversteer caused me to go off in the first corner. Overall, there were few positives to take, but we will examine our data closely, understand what happened and come back for Diriyah.”
