DS Penske returned to the winner’s circle in Jeddah and it was well overdue.
Coming just one day before the second anniversary of its last win, Jean-Eric Vergne’s memorable defensive masterclass in Hyderabad, it felt like a considerable weight had been lifted as Maximilian Guenther snatched the win from Oliver Rowland’s grasp less than a kilometre from the chequered flag.
The relief emanating from Jay Penske was clear and palpable, while an emotional Phil Charles celebrated with the whole team, including several staff that he personally brought in to the fold last year after starting in his deputy team principal and team president role 11 months ago.
The nature of Maximilian Guenther’s win was given an extra special sheen, as it came at the penultimate corner via a brilliantly executed strategy that saw him convert a shrewd energy balancing act in the mid-phase part of the event.
It all came after an equally impressive pole position to remind everyone that despite the win famine, DS has always had pretty strong one lap pace since the advent of the Gen3 era with Jean-Eric Vergne taking four pole positions in that time and Stoffel Vandoorne one.
But the crux of the win really came from DS Penske reading the grip levels of the Jeddah track so well, perhaps better than any of its competitors throughout the weekend as a whole. It was delivered via a little bit of advice from the F1 paddock too.
“I can’t talk for the others, but I can certainly say for us but it (grip levels) was as expected,” Charles confirmed to The Race.
“We got a little bit of intelligence through some F1 friends from the past that Jeddah a very high grip track. The micro (surface) reference, particularly on the new sections that were put down, was very, very high.
“So, it was certainly off the chart grip level wise, which does shift things a little bit in a few areas and you have to correct your car, you have to correct your energy management, so there were a few little tweaks to make. But it was expected to be high grip track from our side of things.”
The win, via Guenther, was beautifully timed too for another important reason.
“Last week a series of meetings took place in Paris regarding the future of several marketing and sporting programmes, including the DS Automobiles decision on whether it goes for a fourth generation of Formula E in 2026.
While Charles would not be drawn on what the outcome might be, he did say: “I can’t talk about the Stellantis side because I’m just not aware of what the situation is.
“But what I can say to you is wins are always greatly welcomed of course. Wins make life feel better instantly. But what was really important for us is that it’s a real testament to the work that we’ve done.
“We’ve put, as a group, a kind of step approach into what we’re doing. We’ve been clicking through those steps and we know what we wanted to do to get things done.
“We’ve really made good progress, so to get the win just really pulls that all together and gives everybody a pat on the back and says ‘look, we had this plan, and its working and it is going in the right direction’.
“This championship is so hard, it doesn’t guarantee you performance in the next races, so you’ve got to keep working hard. In fact, you know the old adage that ‘once you get there then it gets even harder’. But it is all really positive after that win.
Charles was emotional after Guenther took the chequered flag in such dramatic circumstances, and for that there was no surprise.
“There were tears in the garage, which tells you everything about the group that we’ve got as they are super dedicated,” added Charles.
“We’ve put together a group that are really caring about going forward and delivering, and when they achieve the emotion comes out big-time.”
