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A new campaign brings fresh hopes and ample opportunity, and after displaying strong, consistent pace at pre-season testing, Maximilian Günther is ready for the journey beyond the horizon.
In Season 9, the 26-year-old made history on multiple occasions, and off the back of testing, he’s more than prepared to rewrite his own records in our impending adventure.
“I’m really pleased with how Valencia went from our side,” says Max, who set the second-fastest time on the final day of running at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
“I think, in general, our approach to pre-season testing has always been strong, and in Valencia, we had a clear objective in mind.
“We wanted to learn as much as we could ahead of the first race of the season, and despite us not always aiming for performance running, we were competitive over the whole week.
“In 2022, I think we left testing for Season 9 feeling very positive but unfortunately, in the first few races, we were absolutely nowhere in terms of performance.
“We worked hard to get our season back on track from that moment, and in the end, we put together this great turnaround and it came together very nicely.
“By addressing our performance from Season 9, I think we’ve been able to really step up a level, and this time in Valencia, we were where we wanted to be.
“The goal in testing is not necessarily to be the fastest – the goal is to learn as much as possible, and to feel comfortable, and me and my engineers trust each other blindly.
“We’re very much aligned on where we can improve and how we can get to where we want to be.”
Despite the testing phase of Season 10 now having reached its conclusion, preparations are still in full-swing, and Maserati MSG Racing is continuing to develop solutions ahead of the first race.
“Looking back on last season, I think it was clear that we had a lot of potential in our racecraft, but I think there are always areas we can improve, and we have agood understanding of that,” continues Max.
“When a package is more complete, there’s the opportunity to look at it more closely with finer details to see how we can improve in race running, and over one lap.
“The first part of Season 10 features the same races as Season 9, and at least from our side, Mexico City and Diriyah were some of our most challenging events of last season as a team.
“We have a good understanding of what went wrong last year, but we have our feet on the ground, and we want to hit the ground running when we start racing again.
“Every team is going through the same development cycle as us so everyone will likely make improvements, but we want to challenge the lead group as much as we can.”
With the performance cycle and evolution of each team in mind, Max doesn’t just expect to see a more competitive grid in Season 10. He expects to see Formula E’s most competitive grid in history.
“After the first few rounds, I think we’ll start to see a rough order, but season after season, Formula E is getting closer and more competitive,” adds Max.
“Towards the end of Gen2, we saw that the grid was covered by only a few tenths at most races, and throughout Season 9, we saw the grid get closer together at the end of the year.
“I think Formula E will be tighter than ever in Season 10. It’s going to be a big fight, and I think a lot of teams look like they’re in a good position.
“We just need to focus on our own strengths, I need to focus on what I can do as a driver, and if we follow that approach, I think we can have some fun and make some memories.”
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