It was a scorching season finale in Formula E as Pascal Wehrlein beat poleman and title rival Mitch Evans in the 39-lap race at ExCeL London. The win was crucial with just one race remaining in the championship as the Porsche driver moved from third to first in the drivers’ standings, while previous championship leader Nick Cassidy fought back from 17th on the grid to finish seventh. Evans crossed the line in third, while Sebastien Buemi took third place after Maximilian Guenther retired late on.
Pole-sitter Evans got off to a perfect start and into Turn 1, but Wehrlein threatened front-row starter Sebastien Buemi from third. However, after failing to find a gap, the Porsche driver was forced to pull alongside Norman Nato before giving up the position in the tight Turn 6/7 chicane.
Further back, defending champion Jake Dennis launched himself up the inside of Robin Frijns in the fast Turn 10/11 chicane, but the Andretti driver clipped the kerb on the inside and made contact with the Envision. Frijns hit the barrier in the second half of the corner, breaking his suspension and sending him back onto the track, stranding the helpless Sam Bird behind him. The safety car was called to remove Frijns’ car and the Dutchman was taken to hospital for medical checks.
With the Safety Car back on lap five, Cassidy, in 15th place, went off the track to get the first of two Attack mode activations, but the Jaguar driver missed one of the sensors and was unable to activate it. The chance to activate it the following lap was thwarted when Dennis and Vergne stopped mid-corner after the Briton tried to pass on the inside.
Nick Cassidy, Jaguar TCS Racing
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
After rejoining, Dennis quickly moved ahead of Cassidy at Turn 3 with a decisive move that damaged the latter’s steering, with Cassidy fighting back later after contact with Stoffel Vandoorne sent him into the barrier at Turn 7.
Meanwhile, at the front of the field, Evans overtook Buemi to take the lead of the race, after the Swiss had managed to stay ahead of him in the early stages of the race, with Wehrlein following him decisively. So, on lap 22, the German made a decisive move on Evans on the inside of Turn 1 and, once in the lead of the race, immediately increased the pace to take both Attack modes and stay ahead of Evans.
On lap 27, when Wehrlein took his final Attack mode, he emerged side by side with the Jaguar driver and the two took Turn 17 together, but on the outside the New Zealander had to give way. From there, Wehrlein increased his lead, while Evans was forced to defend himself from Maximilian Guenther, one of the first to activate both Attack modes.
After passing Nato at Turn 1 and getting ahead of Buemi when the Envision driver activated his second Attack Mode, the Maserati MSG driver found himself in second place after passing Evans at Turn 10 on lap 30. Shortly after, however, Nato hit the barrier at Turn 1 following contact with Sacha Fenestraz, prompting a second Safety Car to clear the debris, erasing Wehrlein’s lead.
With just six laps to go, with two more added by the safety car, Wehrlein’s task became easier: Guenther suffered a technical problem shortly after the restart following the return of the Safety Car, stopping his Maserati at Turn 13 and causing another yellow across the entire track.
Wehrlein took his third win of the season, which moved him to the top of the drivers’ standings, three points ahead of Evans, who finished second, and with one more point for the fastest lap. Cassidy fought back to ninth, but with penalties for Dennis and Fenestraz he was classified seventh, meaning he is just seven points behind Wehrlein heading into Sunday’s race, the last of the season.
Formula E London E-Prix – Race 1 Results
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