Formula E

Sao Paulo race decided on last lap by three-way Jaguar scrap

by Matt Beer
3 min read

Mitch Evans fended off Nick Cassidy and Sam Bird in an ultra-close Jaguar 1-2-3 in Formula E’s first Sao Paulo race.

The nature of the Brazilian track meant an often bizarre race of drivers trying to avoid leading given the power of the slipstream for conserving energy, with Evans, Cassidy, polesitter Stoffel Vandoorne and Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa the main protagonists in the near-constant easy lead swapping.

That also meant a tightly-packed field and a lot of incidents in the traffic behind, prompting two safety car periods.

As the race settled into a more normal rhythm later on, Evans and Cassidy managed to break clear.

But Bird, who had significantly more energy saved, was rapidly closing in. He had surged forward from 10th place on the grid, where he had been dumped by his five-place penalty for hitting Evans two races ago in Hyderabad. That penalty had been carried forward because Bird couldn’t race in Cape Town following his big qualifying crash.

Works Jaguar driver Evans dived ahead of the customer Envision Jaguar of Cassidy just as Bird appeared on their tails, and then defended mightily through the final laps to secure Jaguar’s first win of the Gen3 era. He beat Cassidy by just 0.284s, with all three covered by 0.507s.

Da Costa dropped away from this group when he skated over the first chicane and fell from third to seventh, though he recovered past the fading DS Penskes of Jean-Eric Vergne and Vandoorne – who rounded out the top six – to take fourth.

Championship leader Pascal Wehrlein charged through from 18th on the grid (thanks to both a poor qualifying session and a grid penalty for hitting Sebastien Buemi in Cape Town) to run as high as fourth, despite taking a battering from multiple midfield incidents.

Wehrlein saved both his attack modes until very late and ended up seventh.

But his main pre-race championship rival Jake Dennis non-scored for a third straight race, hit by a dive from Dan Ticktum that then led to his damaged car veering into Wehrlein.

McLaren pair Jake Hughes and Rene Rast were eighth and ninth ahead of Buemi.

Second-row starter Edoardo Mortara broke his Maserati’s front wing on Evans at the first corner and was later punted into the barriers.

Among the many other mid-pack incidents, works Nissan driver Norman Nato’s first-corner exit was the most spectacular as he ran into and over Hughes’s McLaren Nissan.

Race Results

Pos Name Team Car Laps Laps Led Total Time Fastest Lap Pitstops Pts
1 Mitch Evans Jaguar TCS Racing Jaguar I-TYPE 6 35 8 53m25.536s 1m14.258s 0 25
2 Nick Cassidy Envision Racing Jaguar I-TYPE 6 35 12 +0.284s 1m14.174s 0 18
3 Sam Bird Jaguar TCS Racing Jaguar I-TYPE 6 35 0 +0.507s 1m13.684s 0 16
4 António Félix da Costa TAG Heuer Porsche Porsche 99X Electric 35 3 +3.487s 1m14.007s 0 12
5 Jean-Eric Vergne DS Penske DS E-Tense FE23 35 0 +4.042s 1m14.207s 0 10
6 Stoffel Vandoorne DS Penske DS E-Tense FE23 35 12 +4.576s 1m14.095s 0 11
7 Pascal Wehrlein TAG Heuer Porsche Porsche 99X Electric 35 0 +5.659s 1m14.347s 0 6
8 Jake Hughes NEOM McLaren Nissan e-4ORCE 04 35 0 +6.141s 1m14.13s 0 4
9 René Rast NEOM McLaren Nissan e-4ORCE 04 35 0 +7.403s 1m14.244s 0 2
10 Sébastien Buemi Envision Racing Jaguar I-TYPE 6 35 0 +7.976s 1m13.771s 0 1
11 Maximilian Günther Maserati MSG Racing Maserati Tipo Folgore 35 0 +15.192s 1m13.995s 0 0
12 André Lotterer Avalanche Andretti Porsche 99X Electric 35 0 +15.345s 1m13.922s 0 0
13 Lucas Di Grassi Mahindra Racing Mahindra M9Electro 35 0 +19.247s 1m14.073s 0 0
14 Daniel Ticktum NIO 333 Racing NIO 333 ER9 35 0 +19.398s 1m14.374s 0 0
15 Robin Frijns ABT CUPRA Mahindra M9Electro 35 0 +20.751s 1m14.799s 0 0
16 Oliver Rowland Mahindra Racing Mahindra M9Electro 35 0 +26.465s 1m14.591s 0 0
17 Sérgio Sette Câmara NIO 333 Racing NIO 333 ER9 35 0 +31.514s 1m15.433s 0 0
Nico Müller ABT CUPRA Mahindra M9Electro 19 0 DNF 1m16.99s 0 0
Edoardo Mortara Maserati MSG Racing Maserati Tipo Folgore 19 0 DNF 1m16.891s 0 0
Jake Dennis Avalanche Andretti Porsche 99X Electric 13 0 DNF 1m16.435s 0 0
Sacha Fenestraz Nissan Nissan e-4ORCE 04 6 0 DNF 1m16.954s 0 0
Norman Nato Nissan Nissan e-4ORCE 04 0 0 DNF 0s 0 0
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • More Networks