Mitch Evans has made history as the first driver to start a Formula E race from last on the grid and take victory following a stunning drive in the Sao Paulo E-Prix.
Powertrain issues had compromised Evans all weekend and forced him to sit out qualifying, confining him to the rear of the 22-car field in this morning’s race on the Anhembi Sambadrome Sao Paulo course.
The win also sees the Kiwi star equal Lucas di Grassi and Sébastien Buemi as the drivers with the most wins since Formula E began in 2014.
“I am still trying to process this one – it was a crazy race,” he said. “I made up 10 places on the first lap and found myself in the mix quite quickly. After that my focus definitely shifted to getting some big points and possibly a podium, so to come away with a win is incredible.
“I had some good fortune out there with the red flags, and obviously it was great to see Pascal walk away from that accident, but we managed the strategy really well and the team guided me through, so credit to everyone at Jaguar TCS Racing – that was a sweet one.”
A chaotic opening race of the 2024/25 Formula E World Championship was highlighted by two red flags, the second of which left reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein stranded upside down.
Wehrlein was unharmed in the frightening incident but required assitance to extract himself from his car and was visibly shaken once out. He was taken to hospital as a precaution.
The crash came as a result of contact with Evans’s Jaguar TCS Racing teammate and New Zealand counterpart Nick Cassidy, after he was sandwiched in a three-wide battle between Maximilian Gunther and Wehrlein at the Turn 4/5 chicane. The contact broke the suspension on the Jaguar and sent it into Wehrlein exiting Turn 6, who was flipped driver-side first into the outside wall.
Until then, Cassidy had ran a strong race and led at times. Jaguar TCS Racing repaired his damage during the delay, but he would not make the chequered flag due to an unrelated technical issue.
“First of all, I’m relieved to know Pascal is ok. That’s the most important thing. I felt like I was a passenger as I had no steering,” he said. “Obviously, it’s terrible for him and for me, but I’m really glad to know he’s OK.
“As for the race before then, I approached today in a different way than I ever have in Formula E and I think it worked for me. I’ve come off the lessons I’ve learned from last year. There’s a new group of people on my car and they’ve done a really, really solid job to put us in the box seat again.”
Wehrlein’s teammate Antonio Felix Da Costa finished second, ahead of McLaren’s Taylor Barnard, who become the youngest-ever Formula E podium finished. Sam Bird followed his teammate home in fourth.
The start of the race, the first of the Formula E Gen3 era, was delayed as the Envision of Robin Frijns was wheeled off the grid with a problem.
Wehrlein, who qualified on pole, lost the lead to Oliver Rowland into Turn 1from the start, where he remained when an early safety car was required when Maserati’s Jakes Hughes and Andretti’s Nico Muller came together at Turn 6.
Cassidy, who qualified tenth, used his first Attack Mode early to remain in the mix and from the newly-introduced all-wheel-drive activation in the 350kW mode. He quickly hit the front and built an advantage that reduced as other competitors used their own Attack Modes.
Rowland returned to the lead on Lap 15 when he used his firstAttack Mode and battled with Cassidy for several laps, only briefly losing the lead to the Kiwi before returning to the front.
Wehrlein and Da Costa moved into the top two spots as they used their second Attack Modes before Rowland did the same to take back the lead.
Jake Dennis’s Andretti stranded in the Turn 1 run-off on Lap 21, which led to the first red flag when his car was left in the red-zone of unsafe battery condition.
A standing start followed, with da Costa on pole from Rowland, Wehrlein, Guenther, Edoardo Mortara and Cassidy, who still needed to use his second Attack Mode.
He did so on Lap 24 to climb to second, behind Rowland who took the lead on the restart and pulled to a healthy advantage of 3.2 seconds.
A drive-through penalty for overpower usage would cost Rowland, however, with the Nissan driver falling down the order when he served it, which promoted Cassidy to the lead, ahead of Evans, who had quietly but quickly picked his way through the field.
Evans took the lead on Lap 29, and da Costa followed through to demote Cassidy to third before his collision with Guenther and Wehrlein.
Evans led off the restart and a staunch defensive effort kept da Costa and Barnard at bay and saw him hold on to take the win. Barnard, who had served a drive-through earlier in the race, along with teammate Bird for overpower usage, had three per cent extra energy over the final laps and looked likely for the win, with the defensive efforts of Evans and da Costa proving the difference.
Still, the 20-year-old held on to complete the podium in just his fourth Formula E race.
Following Bird home in fifth was Mortara, with Norman Nato, Nyck De Vries, Sebastien Buemi, Dan Ticktum and Jean-Eric Vergne completing the points-paying positions.
Formula E returns with the Mexico City E-Prix on January 11.
Header Image: Jaguar TCS Racing
