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Formula E winner Maximilian Günther makes a pit stop at voestalpine in Linz

2020-01-28 |

Just two weeks after his spectacular racing success in Santiago, Chile, Maximilian Günther, the Formula E driver with Austrian roots who races for Team BMW i Andretti Motorsport, was a guest at the voestalpine Stahlwelt in Linz. Talking with voestalpine CEO Herbert Eibensteiner, he offered insights into the current 2019/20 season and the importance of the voestalpine European Races to the series. After the successful launch last year, the technology group is naming partner of all five European races in Formula E once again this year, awarding the driver with the most European wins a special trophy manufactured using 3D printing.

Three electrifying 2019/20 ABB FIA Formula E Championship races have already been run outside Europe, and there are another three to go before the starting signal is given for the voestalpine European Races in Rome on April 4. This will be followed by races over city circuits in Paris (April 18), Berlin (June 21), and London (July 25 & 26) which this year hosts a double-header and will see the winner of the voestalpine European Races lifting their award. Exactly 66 days before this year’s European debut, BMW i Andretti Motorsport driver Maximilian Günther, the youngest winner of the first fully electric motorsport series, visited voestalpine’s production facilities in Linz. The technology group’s headquarters is the production location for sophisticated electrical steel, a pre-material for e-motors, and ultra-high strength lightweight automotive components, which play a key role in extending the range of electric vehicles.

The countdown for the second edition of the voestalpine European Races has begun. Formula E is not only the embodiment of motorsport at its highest level, it also serves as a development platform for tomorrow’s automotive technologies, making it an ideal partner for voestalpine. I am particularly pleased that, following his impressive victory in Santiago, Maximilian Günther has come to see us here in Linz today where he will give us a first-hand report of the racing in the current season.

Herbert Eibensteiner, Chairman of the Management Board of voestalpine AG

Highly coveted voestalpine European Races Award

In season 6, Maximilian Günther (22), who holds a German as well as an Austrian passport and joined Formula E last year, is driving for the BMW works team, BMW i Andretti Motorsport, for the first time.

The victory at the E-Prix in Santiago is the greatest success in my career to date. Once again, the voestalpine European Races Award is an extra incentive for us drivers this season and, as an Austrian, it would of course make me particularly proud to win this trophy. Today’s glimpse behind the scenes of e-mobility here at voestalpine in Linz again demonstrates the technological potential this series represents.

Maximilian Günther, driving for the BMW works team, BMW i Andretti Motorsport

Premium automotive manufacturers on board

With new entrants TAG Heuer Porsche and Mercedes-Benz EQ, this season features 12 teams and 24 drivers, constituting the largest field of starters in this fully electric race series to date. For the first time in the history of motorsport, all the four major German premium automotive marques—Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, and Porsche—will be competing against one another. “The presence of our most important premium automotive customers in Formula E indicates the relevance of this series to the entire industry. As a leading automotive supplier, Formula E offers us the opportunity to demonstrate our comprehensive e-mobility expertise and to further advance technological exchange in this growing market,” explains Eibensteiner.

After three races with three different winners, Stoffel Vandoorne (Mercedes-Benz EQ) currently leads the driver rankings in the current season with 38 points. Alexander Sims (BMW i Andretti Motorsport, 35 points) and Sam Bird (Envision Virgin Racing, 28 points) take the second and the third place. With his victory in Chile, Maximilian Günther (25 points) has now climbed up to fourth place.

E-mobility as an area of international growth for voestalpine

voestalpine generates about 50% of its Group revenue of EUR 13.6 billion in the mobility market of the future, where electromobility will have an ever more important role to play. Already, the Group supplies sophisticated electrical steel strip as a pre-material as well as components for even more efficient e-motors. The Group also supplies extremely lightweight and secure components for battery housings. Furthermore, the Group is already producing ultra-high strength, lightweight automotive components—important work that helps to extend the range of electric vehicles.

voestalpine and Formula E

In 2019/20, the partnership of voestalpine, the Austrian technology group, with the ABB FIA Formula E Championship will enter its second season; the venture was initially conceived for a two-year term. The company lends its name to all of the European races and presents them as the “voestalpine European Races.” The new challenge begins on April 4 in Rome, followed by stops in Paris (April 18) and Berlin (June 21). The last European races will be a double-header in London on July 25 and 26, simultaneously marking the end of the entire championship. The driver with the most victories in all European races and thus the winner of the voestalpine European Races Award will lift the trophy produced by voestalpine using 3D printing technology. Jean-Eric Vergne (DS TECHEETAH) won the first of the voestalpine European Races Awards last season.

The voestalpine Group

In its business segments, voestalpine is a globally leading technology group with a unique combination of materials and processing expertise. voestalpine, which operates globally, has around 500 Group companies and locations in more than 50 countries on all five continents. It has been listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange since 1995. With its top-quality products and system solutions using steel and other metals, it is a leading partner of the automotive and consumer goods industries as well as of the aerospace and oil & gas industries. voestalpine is also the world market leader in complete railway systems as well as in tool steel and special sections. In the business year 2018/19, the Group generated revenue of EUR 13.6 billion, with an operating result (EBITDA) of EUR 1.6 billion; it had just under 52,000 employees worldwide.