This time last year in the hot Chilean sun, Maximilian Guenther lost a promising Formula E result when a powertrain problem struck his Dragon Racing car. Twelve months on, he's a race winner in the electric championship after triumphing in a sweltering Santiago race last weekend for his new squad BMW Andretti.
For a significant portion of the year just past, Guenther has had to endure struggles not of his owning making. Soon after the 2019 Santiago E-Prix, he found himself dropped by Dragon, with ex-Formula 1 driver Felipe Nasr taking his seat from the next round in Mexico City. While there is nothing to suggest there was anything untoward about that development, the team explaining Guenther had completed a "three-race programme" was odd, and in conversations with the young German driver - utterly professional throughout the saga - there was a sense that all was not well behind the scenes.
Dragon brought Guenther back for the 2018-19 Rome round, which Nasr was always set to miss due to a clashing IMSA SportsCar Championship commitment, but he remained in the car for the rest of the season.