"Couldn't do much in the last corner" - Rowland & Günther explain thrilling duel for Formula E victory

What a finale at the first Formula E race in Jeddah! On the final lap of the race, Max Günther launched an attack on the race leader on the approach to turn 17. He went round the outside of Oliver Rowland and celebrated his sixth Formula E win a few metres later! After the race, the two drivers described the thrilling duel for victory - Rowland is annoyed with himself.

"I had lost a few places around the pit stops and came back out somewhere around 8th place, which was surprising," explains Günther. "But we made good progress and it actually looked quite good for us because the others spent a lot (of energy) during the pit stop window. In the end, we just had more than everyone else and took the win."

Hang it in the Louvre 🤌

Class from @maxg_official who wins the #JeddahEPrix on the final lap! pic.twitter.com/NhAAtxFZpI

— Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) February 14, 2025

However, Günther would not have been able to attack much later, because after three more corners the E-Prix was over. "Of course I didn't want to wait until the last corner, but there was no other option - Oli did a mega job today."

"To be honest, I had a perfect corner exit out of the second-to-last chicane. So I lined him up to see whether he had to lift or not. In the end he had to and I was able to make the move stick," said Günther.

Rowland: "If I had used a little less energy..."

Rowland was understandably disappointed shortly after the race to have lost the potential victory so late: "I just had no energy left. We have a cut whereby we simply could not have lifted later because otherwise we would not have reached the finish. So I couldn't do much in the last corner."

Rowland's main problem was his energy management towards the middle of the race, when he had a lead of more than four seconds over second-placed Nyck de Vries. "I'm a bit disappointed because if I had used a bit less energy when I had such a big gap, I would probably have had enough to hold him off. At least we scored some good points."

In fact, Rowland's second place gave him the lead in the Formula E world championship, and Nissan also overtook Porsche in the manufacturers' standings. In the teams' standings, DS Penske in particular has made a big leap to second place and is now only three points behind Porsche before Saturday's race (which starts at 6 pm CET again).

Günther: 1st win with DS Penske "means everything to me"

"The first win with my new team DS Penske - that means everything to me, really", says Günther. "I didn't expect to get right up to the front again. A podium would have been a good result. But I always believe in it until the end. To win like this feels very special. It was a great race."

Pure emotion 🤩

A reaction to match what just happened...#JeddahEPrix pic.twitter.com/18LTbNCnMA

- Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) February 14, 2025

For DS Penske, it was the first victory since the Hyderabad E-Prix on 11 February 2023, almost exactly two years ago to the day. Günther, for his part, won a Formula E race with the third different team already after BMW i Andretti and Maserati MSG. Thanks to his pole position and the fastest lap, he took home the maximum haul of 29 championship points. "This is obviously a great result for us", said the new championship third-placed driver.