In Saturday’s Formula E race in Monaco, DS-Penske was right up front with Maximilian Günther
With bright sunshine over the Principality, the first day of the Monaco E-Prix offered DS-Penske a tactical and exciting race. In the end, a strong performance on the track earned the team crucial points.
As has become customary, Formula E kicked off the first thirty-minute practice session on Saturday morning at 7:30 a.m. It was a relatively quiet session, punctuated by a few close calls, with a strict focus on setup work.
At DS-Penske, the focus was more on setup than on pure performance. Nevertheless, Taylor Barnard secured the ninth-fastest time.
In the second session, the pace was significantly faster. While the team was fine-tuning for qualifying, Barnard skimmed past the wall in the tunnel by a hair’s breadth. Meanwhile, Maximilian Günther confirmed the potential of the DS E-Tense FE25 with the fourth-fastest time.
Both DS-Penske drivers were drawn into the extremely competitive Group A for qualifying. This drastically reduced their chances of reaching the quarterfinals. However, Max Günther survived the session and advanced to the duels. There, a duel with Nico Müller and his Porsche awaited him.
However, Müller was unable to keep up with the DS-Penske’s pace on the demanding track. In the end, Maximilian Günther secured an excellent starting position for an E-Prix billed as highly tactical with his third-place finish. Starting from eleventh place, Taylor Barnard also had the chance to prove himself.
At the start, the front positions remained unchanged. Günther, in third place, managed his energy efficiently while staying within striking distance of the leaders. Barnard, for his part, maintained his pace and drove outside the top 10. The entire field held back a bit, as they needed their cars for two races this weekend.
A collision between two cars triggered a safety car phase. After the restart, the previous order remained unchanged, and energy management would become the decisive factor in the 29-lap race. In laps 14 and 16, the race took a turn due to the pit boost pit stops—the mandatory battery recharge required by the regulations.
The field got mixed up during this phase of the race, costing Max Günther a few positions. Up to that point, he had firmly established himself on the provisional podium. Nevertheless, the DS Penske driver stayed in the mix by using Attack Mode.
This enables all-wheel drive and more power for six minutes. After a minor collision with Nico Müller, he finished in eighth place.
In the end, the result was nullified by a five-second time penalty. This was related to the aforementioned collision. Meanwhile, Taylor Barnard delivered a solid performance. Starting from eleventh on the grid, the Brit fought his way up to seventh place and secured important points for the Franco-American team.
On Sunday, the second E-Prix in Monaco will be held with one fewer lap. Instead, two “Attack Mode” phases and no pit boost are planned. This change will force teams to rethink their strategy.
