"They should ban this guy!" - Günther furious at "unsportsmanlike" Ticktum after Monaco crash

Maximilian Günther started the Monaco E-Prix weekend with high hopes. In his adopted home, the Maserati driver was determined to build on his top 10 successes in Berlin, and perhaps fight for a podium finish once again. But in a battle for position, Günther clashed with Dan Ticktum (Nio 333) and later retired from the race. After the E-Prix, the frustration sits deep.

In his earliest years in racing, Maximilian Günther learned how close success and failure are in motorsport. Not that he needed it, but the German racing driver got further proof of how quickly a race can be over at the Monaco E-Prix. After a brief duel with Dan Ticktum (Nio 333), he tangled with his British rival, hit the armco barrier and ground to a halt a few meters later with a damaged car.

"Sure, the frustration is great," Günther told 'e-Formula.news'. "It's probably better if I say less about it, but it's just deeply unsportsmanlike. This is not the first time this has happened. You always have to be very careful when you have this guy (Ticktum) around. For me, it's absolutely unsportsmanlike when you have a damaged car, you're being overtaken, your opponent's nose is already next to it and then you pull over. That's unacceptable."

FIA decides against penalizing Ticktum - "He will do it again and again!"

Ticktum was not penalized for the incident: Race stewards assessed the scene as a racing accident. Guenther finds the decision "unjustified," he says. "But it's also not my role to comment too much on it. It's just a pity because he will do it again and again." He lashed out much harder against his rival shortly before on the team radio, which fans can listen to publicly via the Formula E app. There, the Maserati driver even demanded of the FIA: "It's always the same with him! They should give this guy a race ban."

Ticktum is the driver in Formula E who accumulated the most penalty points in recent months. He currently (as of May 6, 2023) stands at eight penalty points - from the twelfth he will be automatically banned from an E-Prix.

In recent weeks, the British racer repeatedly clashed with other racers. In Hyderabad he collided with Jake Hughes more or less through no fault of his own, in Sao Paulo he rear-ended Jake Dennis, in Berlin he drew the ire of Stoffel Vandoorne. And now the next collision, this time with Günther.

Ticktum: "He just drove into the back of me"

Ticktum did not consider himself at fault for the accident and shared the FIA's opinion. "The field bunched up in Rascasse. In the pack, I ran into Fenestraz' back," the Briton presents his view on TV. In truth, he did not collide with Fenestraz, but with his teammate Nato. But that doesn't change Ticktum's opinion: "Just breathing against the front wing can break the thing. That's why it was no surprise that even with that contact, my front right wing broke."

Günther ? Ticktum

This is how the race ended for the Maserati MSG Racing driver and brought out the Safety Car ? #MonacoEPrix pic.twitter.com/pd7I55yDJ7

- ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) May 6, 2023

"The debris then rubbed against the wheel, which is why I slowed down and kept more to the right in the uphill passage. I don't know if Günther was looking in the mirrors or watching for other drivers. But he just drove into the back of me. It wasn't like he was setting up for an overtake: He just drove into the back. I don't see how you could not see a racing accident there!"

For the time being, it remains to be seen how well Günther and Ticktum will harmonize the next time they hit the racetrack together. The next encounter in Formula E is around four weeks away at the Jakarta E-Prix on June 3-4, 2023.