Maximilian Guenther headed home a maiden one-two for DS PENSKE, as teammate Jean-Éric Vergne sliced by two cars on the last lap to seal the deal at the 2025 Hankook Shanghai E-Prix.
Taylor Barnard (NEOM McLaren) had led, having sliced by the front-runners through the final chicane and away from the pack to the tune of almost two seconds on Lap 21 of 29. Oliver Rowland (Nissan), who currently leads the FIA Drivers’ World Championship standings, had a lap’s worth of that 50kW, four-wheel-drive ATTACK MODE boost over Barnard and made it by late on, but Guenther himself had 30 seconds over Rowland – enough for what was ultimately the race-winning move over the start-finish line on Lap 26.
Barnard produced a storming move around the outside of Rowland to switch back up the inside of the Nissan a turn later at the chicane on Lap 27 for what looked like second spot, but late pressure from Dan Ticktum (CUPRA KIRO) opened the door to Vergne. The double champion produced his own wizardry to jump by Barnard and Ticktum for second at the flag and a first podium of Season 11, leaving that pair third and fourth respectively.
Rowland finished fifth, just ahead of Nissan teammate Norman Nato, after being shuffled out of the podium spots late on.
All that leaves Rowland maintaining his lead at the top with 171 points, with Barnard now second in the Drivers’ standings (85 points), just ahead of TAG Heuer Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein (84 points). Nissan still heads both the FIA Teams’ World Championship and FIA Manufacturers’ World Championship tables, with Porsche in second place.
Maximilian Guenther, No. 7, DS PENSKE, said:
“Amazing! A 1-2 for the team, I’m so happy. A real masterclass this race, I think the strategy, the pace, the execution, the moves – everything was nice. I knew when I put the overlap on Oli [Rowland] and had more energy, I just had to go and get my head down and try to be secure, which we managed. I’m extremely happy. It means a lot, especially after these last few weeks when momentum was not on our side. This weekend we certainly got it back! It’s been a lot of hard work and I’m very happy for the team.”
Jean-Éric Vergne, No. 25, DS PENSKE said:
“What a race! It’s been a rollercoaster. I left a little bit of my front wing in the last corner, I think a bit of my wrist as well – I was suffering the whole race, I really hurt it. Honestly I don’t know, I just went for it – I think we did the right call keeping the ATTACK MODE quite late. Everybody was attacking a lot and I thought that since everyone was doing that I should save a bit more energy and try to use it towards the end, and it paid off quite nicely.”
Taylor Barnard, No. 5, NEOM McLaren Formula E Team said:
“Honestly, my main emotion is that I’m a bit confused! I was sitting at the back for a very long time; I was quite good on energy but I didn’t understand how the race was playing out. The team did a great job with the strategy because I came out of the pit lane in sixth so I thought, ‘now I can fight!’, but I need to look at the race after to understand a little bit better what’s actually happened. I was really struggling with energy on the last couple of laps so I did my best in the last few corners. I’m super happy to get another podium, another 15 points in the bag.”
