Maximilian Günther admitted he felt “very mixed emotions” after Race 1 of the 2026 Monaco E-Prix, as DS Penske’s strong pace failed to translate into the result he felt was possible.
The German started third and ran inside the leading group during the opening half of the race. However, his afternoon unravelled during the PIT BOOST window, where he dropped down the order and lost the chance to fight for a podium.
Günther eventually finished 10th, scoring two points. He also set the fastest lap of the race with a 1:28.427 on Lap 18, which was also the fastest lap inside the top 10. However, he received a five-second time penalty after the race, adding to a frustrating afternoon for the DS Penske driver.
Günther frustrated by strategy calls
Speaking to Pit Debrief after the Race 1 of the Monaco E-Prix , Günther said he took positives from the pace DS Penske showed across practice, qualifying and the race. However, he struggled to understand the strategy decisions from inside the car.
“Very mixed emotions. I’m standing here on the one hand being really positive about the mega strong day we drove today, the practice sessions, the qualifying, the top three and then the race actually, you know, especially the first half has been outstanding. Running in the top three, highest in energy and it’s something for us this year quite or very unusual to achieve that.”
“I felt like putting ourselves in the best possible position and then on strategy inside the car, I couldn’t understand why we made these calls, but basically, I lost eight positions in the pit stop window so from P3 to P11, which has been very hard from behind the steering wheel.”
“And yeah, this basically defined our race, so tough race.”
Lost positions define his race
Günther’s comments underlined the frustration of a missed opportunity. DS Penske had put itself in a strong position early on, with Günther running among the frontrunners and managing his energy well.
However, the pit stop sequence changed the shape of his race. On a circuit where track position carries huge value, losing eight places left him with a difficult recovery drive. Although he climbed back into the points, the final classification did not reflect the pace he had shown.
His fastest lap offered further proof of that speed. Günther ended the race as the quickest driver on a single lap, but the wider result left DS Penske to wonder what could have been.
Günther takes confidence from car performance
Despite the frustration, Günther said the performance of the car gave him confidence ahead of Race 2 in Monaco. The DS Penske driver praised the team for giving him a package that worked both over one lap and across the race.
“Confidence in the sense that I’m feeling really great together with the car. I feel the team has put together a mega, mega car, both on one lap and on the race. So we can be very, very pleased with that.”
“Hopefully we can capitalise on that with a good execution tomorrow.”
