Vergne beats DS teammate Günther in Mexico - "Would have had the potential for a podium without the safety car"

Maximilian Günther got off to a good start at DS Penske from the very first moment and drove faster than his established team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne in Sao Paulo until his collision with Nick Cassidy through no fault of his own. The two-time Formula E champion initially set the record straight in Mexico though, winning both the direct qualifying duel and the race against Günther. Both seem to be pushing each other to their best form - good for DS Penske.

In qualifying, things did not look good at first for "JEV". In the group stage, he was eliminated by his team-mate and initially pushed to fifth place, while Günther won the first qualifying section. However, the exclusion of Sebastien Buemi due to technical infringements meant that Vergne climbed up one place into the top four and then faced his team-mate directly in the duel stage.

The Frenchman did not miss this opportunity and defeated Günther by a clear 3.5 tenths of a second margin! Afterwards, he lost out in the semi-final against Antonio Felix da Costa. However, the result meant third place on the grid for Vergne and sixth for Günther.

DS Penske again unlucky with the safety car

The race went well for DS at the start and Vergne was able to stay in the top three for a while. However, he was unable to defend for long against the eventual race winner Oliver Rowland. Neither was he able to hold off Jake Dennis, who the Frenchman managed to hold off for a long time with a tough defence. However, when Vergne activated his Attack Mode, he also fell behind the Andretti.

The basic idea of DS Penske was to first activate the two minutes of Attack Mode early and then the remaining six minutes in the final phase of the race. In the final third, the black and gold team was in the top five and could potentially have driven towards the podium together with Rowland. We were unable to find out whether there would have been enough pace in the DS Penske, as there was a crash between David Beckmann and Zane Maloney shortly after their second activation.

Both Vergne and Günther wasted their power time in the safety car phase that followed the accident. It was particularly annoying because they already had the same bad luck in Sao Paulo: "I'm still a bit frustrated because it's the second time in two races that the safety car has come out just when I've activated my Attack Mode. Without the safety car, we would have had the potential to finish on the podium", said Vergne.

Potential for podium finishes is there

In the end, Vergne crossed the finish line ahead of Günther - DS Penske in 5th and 6th place. 18 points are a pleasing haul, although more could have been achieved. Nevertheless, the drivers were satisfied and the former Formula E champion was already looking forward to Jeddah: "The positive thing is that we finished in the points for the second time in a row, that we had a competitive car and that we all worked well. We have to keep working hard to do even better next time."

Günther feels very comfortable in the new team. Although he lost the internal team duel in Mexico, he will once again be up against Vergne in Jeddah: "I'm happy with the teamwork. It was only my second race with DS Penske, but I have the feeling that everything is going very well and feels more and more natural. Now I'm really looking forward to Jeddah"

We will find out how close it will be between the two in Saudi Arabia and whether a podium is possible for them on 14 and 15 February at the "Double-Header" in Jeddah!