Maximilian Günther was very much the ‘King of Jakarta’ on Sunday, with the German having claimed a sensational victory at the eleventh round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.
Günther isn’t going to forget the Jakarta E-Prix double-header anytime soon, with the Maserati MSG Racing driver having topped every single session bar Saturday’s race, where he finished third. Having missed out on victory Saturday, Günther wasn’t going to let the win get away from him again on Sunday, as proven by his clinical moves. He pulled off an exceptional move on Mitch Evans at Turns Nine and Ten which effectively won him the race, as he overtook Jake Dennis when the Briton activated his second Attack Mode.
The Maserati driver ended up building a two-second gap to Dennis and an eighteen-second advantage to Evans, highlighting his unbelievable pace in Southeast Asia. His remarkable weekend in Jakarta has incredibly elevated him into seventh in the Drivers’ Championship, whilst his win was astonishingly Maserati’s first in single-seater racing since 1957.
Understandably, Günther was “over the moon” with his first win of the season and has urged the team to keep “maximising our package”, which clearly has plenty of pace.
“I’m absolutely over the moon with this victory. It is a fantastic moment for us as a team, and a great milestone for Maserati. We have shown good progress over the past couple of races, and I felt really good from FP1 onwards, so I knew that the package was working well here. It was just a case of executing both races and continuing to head in the right direction.
“Yesterday’s podium was great, but we didn’t have quite enough for the top spot – today we did. In Formula E you need to keep your feet on the ground because the championship can change so quickly, but for now, I’m just enjoying this moment. There will be some tracks that suit us more this season, and some that suit us less. We just need to focus on maximising our package which is what we’ve been doing in the past few races. I’m very proud.”
“I could have finished much higher” – Edoardo Mortara
On the other side of the Maserati garage, Edoardo Mortara was left with “mixed emotions” after the Swiss driver felt like he could’ve finished higher than eighth. Mortara backed-up his sixth place finish on Saturday with yet another points finish; however, a brake issue halted him from challenging the top-five.
As well as that, Mortara missed the Attack Mode detection zone on his first attempt, costing him valuable time. He was also caught up in a train behind Evans in third, who was going considerably slower than the leading duo in an attempt to save some energy.
Had it not been for the train, Mortara believes he could’ve “finished much higher”, making Maserati’s weekend even better.
“I have mixed emotions about the race today. I was very happy with how the car was working, and I was able to qualify fourth, but I had some braking issues during the race and unfortunately, missed my first Attack Mode activation. Looking at the time loss, I know I could have finished much higher to bring home an even better result for the team. It’s been a positive weekend overall, and now, we need to continue building so we can achieve even better results.”
