Formula E

BMW rookie Dennis closes on Formula E lead with London win

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
5 min read

Jake Dennis claimed his second Formula E victory in the first of two races in London after he pressured pole-sitter Alex Lynn into making a critical error.

Lynn led away from his first FE pole position in four years, and the leading duo took their first attack mode – upped to eight minutes for this weekend’s races – on the same lap but diverged on the activation of their second.

London E-Prix Formula E

Mahindra’s Lynn took his second attack mode before Dennis and dropped into second place behind the BMW i Andretti driver. He remained within a second of Dennis and would have retaken the lead when Dennis took his second attack mode had he not made a costly lock-up into the Turn 10 right-hand hairpin.

The mistake cost Lynn a couple of seconds and it allowed Dennis to take his attack mode and remain ahead of the chasing Lynn.

Lynn’s pace dropped after the error and Dennis was able to build a significant advantage out front to take his second FE victory of the season by 5.341s.

Lynn fell into the clutches of Nyck de Vries in the closing laps of the race, and the 2019 Formula 2 champion passed Lynn into the Turn 10 hairpin with the help of fanboost.

Earlier in the race, de Vries had lunged his way past Sebastien Buemi at the same corner to claim third place.

Second place for de Vries marks a first podium since Valencia for Mercedes, while Lynn’s third place is his second podium in FE.

Nissan e.dams’ Buemi finished in fourth place, which would have handed him his best result of the season – a testament to the troubles that the 2015/16 FE champion has experienced this year. However, he – along with Nissan team-mate Oliver Rowland – were disqualified after the race.

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The penalty promotes Porsche’s Andre Lotterer into fourth place ahead of the two Audi drivers of Rene Rast (with damage to the front of his car) and Lucas di Grassi.

Stoffel Vandoorne made it two Mercedes cars in the top 10 in seventh place ahead of defending champion Antonio Felix da Costa. Rowland originally finished in ninth place before his DSQ.

FE rookie Norman Nato was running in 10th place but he picked up a puncture whilst trying to build a big enough gap to Rowland to overcome the five-second penalty he received for a collision with Dragon Penske Autosport’s Sergio Sette Camara earlier in the race.

The top 10 was rounded out by Edorara Mortara and Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein.

On the opening lap, Mahindra’s Alex Sims was fed into the wall before the downhill Turn 6 and triggered a string of incidents as the drivers struggled to navigate his stricken car at one of the tightest sections of the circuit.

Jaguar was the biggest loser as Sam Bird picking up terminal damage when he was squeezed between what he described as “a rock and a hard place”, and his team-mate Mitch Evans had to pit for repairs after sustaining damage.

Evans re-joined but finished down in 14th place while Bird still leads the championship despite suffering his fourth retirement of the season.

Another title contender Robin Frijns had a troubled run to 13th position with a five-second penalty for colliding with Joel Eriksson on the entry to the Turn 11 left-hand hairpin.

Two-time Formula E champion Jean-Eric Vergne qualified on the back row of the grid but a pre-race invertor change awarded him a 10-second stop-go penalty. He finished in 12th place.

Race Results

Pos Name Team Car Laps Laps Led Total Time Fastest Lap Pitstops Pts
1 Jake Dennis BMW i Andretti Motorsport BMW iFE.21 33 22 46m50.048s 1m22.778s 0 25
2 Nyck de Vries Mercedes-Benz EQ Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 33 0 +5.341s 1m22.77s 0 18
3 Alex Lynn Mahinda Racing Mahindra M7Electro 33 11 +6.946s 1m23.209s 0 18
4 André Lotterer TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Porsche 99X Electric 33 0 +10.699s 1m22.927s 0 13
5 René Rast Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler Audi e-tron FE07 33 0 +11.427s 1m22.539s 0 11
6 Lucas Di Grassi Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler Audi e-tron FE07 33 0 +12.233s 1m22.769s 0 9
7 Stoffel Vandoorne Mercedes-Benz EQ Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 33 0 +17.381s 1m22.862s 0 6
8 António Félix da Costa DS Techeetah DS E-Tense FE21 33 0 +18.457s 1m22.786s 0 4
9 Edoardo Mortara RokIT Venturi Racing Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 33 0 +30.724s 1m23.074s 0 2
10 Pascal Wehrlein TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Porsche 99X Electric 33 0 +38.24s 1m23.579s 0 1
11 Nick Cassidy Envision Virgin Racing Audi e-tron FE07 33 0 +43.475s 1m23.27s 0 0
12 Jean-Eric Vergne DS Techeetah DS E-Tense FE21 33 0 +48.025s 1m22.721s 0 0
13 Robin Frijns Envision Virgin Racing Audi e-tron FE07 33 0 +51.037s 1m23.194s 0 0
14 Mitch Evans Jaguar Racing Jaguar I-Type 5 33 0 +57.579s 1m22.34s 0 0
15 Oliver Turvey NIO 333 Formula E Team NIO 333 001 33 0 +58.624s 1m23.848s 0 0
16 Joel Eriksson Dragon / Penske Autosport Penske EV-5 33 0 +59.945s 1m24.073s 0 0
17 Sérgio Sette Câmara Dragon / Penske Autosport Penske EV-5 33 0 +1m0.436s 1m23.999s 0 0
18 Maximilian Günther BMW i Andretti Motorsport BMW iFE.21 33 0 +55.105s 1m22.858s 0 0
Norman Nato RokIT Venturi Racing Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 33 0 DNF 1m22.966s 0 0
Tom Blomqvist NIO 333 Formula E Team NIO 333 001 25 0 DNF 1m22.718s 0 0
Sam Bird Jaguar Racing Jaguar I-Type 5 1 0 DNF 0s 1 0
Alexander Sims Mahinda Racing Mahindra M7Electro 0 0 DNF 0s 0 0
Sébastien Buemi Nissan e.DAMS Nissan IM03 33 0 DQ 1m22.932s 0 0
Oliver Rowland Nissan e.DAMS Nissan IM03 33 0 DQ 1m23.07s 0 0
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