Formula E testing in Madrid: DS Penske driver Maximilian Günther sets best time on Wednesday

Maximilian Günther set the fastest time at the Formula E pre-season tests in Madrid on Wednesday. The DS Penske driver lapped the Circuito del Jarama in 1:28.408 minutes and beat surprise runner-up Dan Ticktum in the Kiro and DS team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne. Maserati newcomer Jake Hughes had been fastest in the morning session.

On Wednesday morning, all eleven teams took to the track for the first time after Jaguar and Nissan had to skip Tuesday's session due to breaches of the budget cap. The first top time went to Zane Maloney in the Lola Yamaha ABT. However, the lap times were still significantly slower than the day before.

The Porsche powertrains were in good form early on: Jake Dennis, Antonio Felix da Costa, Nico Müller and David Beckmann ensured a four-car lead for the cars from Weissach. Then it was Stellantis' turn: Jake Hughes took the lead and the three other cars powered by DS Penske and Maserati also moved into the top 8.

The first red flag of the test came out after an hour: McLaren driver Sam Bird had dug himself into the gravel in turn 1. After his car was pulled back onto the track, his mechanics were able to push the car back into the pit lane. At this point, the lap times were already more than half a second faster than in the first session on Tuesday afternoon.

First red flag ? of the #FormulaE tests in Madrid: @sambirdofficial stops in turn 1 and gets pushed by his @McLarenFE mechanics back to the pits. #FETesting #FormelE pic.twitter.com/WNLjg1S1m8

— Tobias Wirtz (@tobiw_apex) November 6, 2024

Red flag, the second

There was a second red flag shortly before the end of the morning session: Nick Cassidy stopped on the start-finish straight with a technical problem. Not only did he miss the last few minutes of the morning, but he was also to lose more than 45 minutes of the afternoon before his Jaguar could get back on track.</p

#FormulaE test in Madrid: @NickCassidy_ walks back to the pits after parking his @JaguarRacing car on track. Red flag #2 today ?#FETesting #ABBFormulaE pic.twitter.com/i8Uvh7oEdR

- Tobias Wirtz (@tobiw_apex) November 6, 2024

The fastest time in the morning went to Jake Hughes in the Maserati ahead of Jake Dennis and the strong Dan Ticktum. Pascal Wehrlein also managed to improve in the final seconds: the world champion finished the session in fourth place.

Kiro impresses in the afternoon, only Max Günther faster

In addition to the two red flags in the morning, there was another one in the afternoon when race control had to carry out repairs on the track. There were no more accidents or technical issues to report. As in the morning, the action on track was spread out over the three hours - only rarely did more than half of the field race at the same time. It only got a little more crowded in the final minutes.

In the afternoon, Kiro was once again in strong form: Ticktum led the session for a long time and was only narrowly beaten by Max Günther in the DS Penske. Behind him was Jean-Eric Vergne, the second DS Penske, ahead of the second Kiro of David Beckmann and the two Mahindras of Nyck de Vries and Edo Mortara.

At the end of the timesheets, both McLaren cars were four seconds behind and both Maserati cars were seven seconds behind Günther. A clear indication that these two teams ran completely different programmes in the afternoon than all their rivals.

There will again be two sessions on Thursday: from 9 am to 12 pm and from 2 pm to 5 pm. e-Formula.news will continue to be there for you in Madrid and will provide you with all the important updates.

Results & lap times