FE | Gunther: “Special victory. Maserati perfect on strategy”

Italy awakens with a Maserati-tinged dawn. The Trident brand has in fact achieved its second success in Formula E thanks to Max Gunther's victory today in the Japanese ePrix, in an extremely tactical race in which it was necessary to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. In Tokyo, not only the driver's contribution was central, but also that of the team, especially from a strategic point of view and, from this point of view, Maserati did not disappoint, managing the race tactics in a masterly manner.

After losing second place at the start starting from the dirty side of the grid, Gunther managed to get back behind Oliver Rowland following the first activation of the Attack Modes, overtaking Edoardo Mortara again. An important maneuver in the economy of the race, especially in an extremely tactical first part of the race, but the decisive phase was the one after the Safety Car came in due to the debris left by a contact in the center of the group between Mitch Evans and Robin Frijns.

After the neutralization period, in fact, Gunther then found the decisive overtake on Rowland during the twenty-fifth lap, when the Briton was trying to manage the battery. The German immediately attempted to move forward and that little treasure proved to be fundamental, as it allowed him to create the gap necessary to activate the second period of Attack Mode while still remaining in the lead.

If before the second activation the Maserati driver had tried to push to build the necessary delta to stay in the lead, in the subsequent phases he instead followed the opposite approach, managing the pace to save battery and recover the energy previously expended. A tactic that proved successful, enough to cross the finish line with around seven tenths of an advantage over poleman Rowland.

For the Trident brand, this is the second success in the category after the team's change of identity last season, thus repeating the success achieved in 2023 in Jakarta again with Gunther. A great satisfaction for the team, which started the season giving encouraging signs both in the race and in qualifying even before today's victory. The German has in fact always finished in the points in the first five rounds of the championship, also completing a great comeback in Brazil, despite starting from the back due to a penalty for replacing the gearbox and inverter on the single-seater.

Perhaps it is early to talk about a possible entry into the world championship fight, but in Formula E, even more than victories, consistency is fundamental. Without the sanction in Sao Paulo, the gap from the top would be reduced compared to the current fifteen points and, with a Porsche that is struggling to realize its potential and chances, being able to consistently enter the points zone will be essential to maintain itself in the noblest areas of the classification.

“It's fantastic, wonderful. It was an incredible weekend, we finished in the top three in every session, it really is a special victory. The whole team did a fantastic job, also from a strategy point of view”, explained Gunther at the end of the Tokyo race, before underlining the progress made by the team thanks to the work carried out on the software and race management in recent months .

Maximilian Gunther, Maserati Racing, celebrates the victory with the team

Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images

“In recent weeks, like in Sao Paulo where we made a good comeback, I think we saw that we pushed hard and that we were fast. It's fantastic, I'm proud of this victory.”

Behind the German there was an open fight, especially between the Porsche cars, both official and customer. Jake Dennis managed to bring home a good podium, while Pascal Wehrlein perhaps wasted a good opportunity to gain important points for the classification. Although he was in a position of relative advantage in managing the attack mode, a duel with Dennis caused him to lose several positions, also damaging the front wing.

Porsche's missed chance made life easier for Maserati, which was thus able to manage the strategy and the final phase of the race more serenely, until it crossed the finish line ahead of everyone: “Energy management was very important today, even if behind the rivals, especially Porsche, they explained from a strategic point of view and had a good pace. But, precisely on race tactics, I think we did everything we had to do. In the final laps we were all very close, but we won with strategy by making our maneuver at the best moment”, added the Trident standard bearer.