What prompted Dennis’s ‘you guys have f***ed me again’ rant

Confusion surrounding the correct lap count of the first Rome E-Prix cost former Formula E points leader Jake Dennis three points after his Avalanche Andretti team became confused over how many laps the race would run.

The error, which had its roots in the fact the Rome circuit has an off-set start and finish area, saw Dennis hitting the wrong energy targets giving a false impression that he was in line to win his second E-Prix of the season.

Dennis moved to the front after making a bold move on Mitch Evans at Turn 3 before stretching out a gap so that he could take his second attack mode while retaining the lead.

Confusion over why Sacha Fenestraz’s Nissan was lapping significantly slower than him led to it becoming evident that Dennis was running to a different lap count to his opponents.

Dennis was then forced to back off in the final 10 laps of the race to ensure he could finish the race competitively.

Dennis initially fumed at the team error which cost him a possible win, saying on his radio that “you guys have f***ed me again, like last year,”

That referenced a similar error last season when he got into a strong position with his then BMW-powered Gen2 car only for a miscalculation to see him drop back down the order.

The vitriol continued with “you’re having a laugh” and “the lap count is wrong.”

While Dennis was processing the information that he had new energy targets because of the error, he was told that he could hold off Jean-Eric Vergne and Nico Mueller who both had over one percent more energy at that stage of the race.

Dennis’s team principal Roger Griffiths told The Race that the team was essentially outfoxed by confusion on the lap counter after the race was re-started following the huge accident that occurred on lap nine of the race.

“Understanding why it went wrong is quite difficult,” said Griffiths.

“We’ve had a long chat with the race director (Scot Elkins) about how we’re coming out of the pitlane and then the lap behind the safety car and when the restart happens, exactly when do you start counting laps again?

“Ultimately we made a mistake and others around us didn’t.

When asked if the lap count should have been made clearer to the teams upon the re-start being triggered, Griffiths said that “I think because when you exit it seemed last year when we had a timed race it was a little bit clearer that the clock restarted when the light went green.

“Here, did the lap count start when we left the pitlane? And if it is to do with this unique pitlane configuration we have here and the timing loops are not as you would have in a conventional pit lane so you don’t have a control line so to speak in the pitlane like you do with other tracks.

“It’s all a little bit confusing. I think that there needs to be a bit of a tidy-up of the regulation around there because it just helps everybody.

Griffiths went on to state that he would like to see the sporting working group taking a look at possible additional clarity look at the procedures for re-starts and was confident that “we’ll see an update for next year.”

Some other teams relayed to The Race after the event that they were also confused about when the attack zone window would be made open after the red flag and the subsequent restart.

“Was it immediately after? Or was it two laps after? So, again, I think there needs to be a little bit more clarity around that,” Griffiths said.

“The regulations are clear on the original start that an attack mode cannot be executed until the second lap of the race. Yet, on a restart there is no clarity on when drivers can take the attack mode loops.

“All of these things you can never anticipate everything when you’re trying to write the regulations and, as we know, Formula E throws up some many things at you, it’s, trying to predict what may or may not happen is very difficult.

“I think race control ran it very well, but I think clarity would help all of us.”

For Dennis, who calmed significantly from his initial shock at the error in getting the lap count wrong, the race was put into perspective by knowing that finishing higher than third would have been difficult given the pace of the Jaguar-powered cars of Evans and Cassidy who finished first and second.

“It was looking good, obviously too good,” Dennis told The Race.

“It was never going to look as good as it should have done. What target we had compared to everyone else, that’s why we ended up going into the lead, thinking ahh, I can win this race now, with the target I had.

“Then they were like, yeah plus one lap and then my target was bottom of the pits, super low. No chance you can fight.

“We were never going to beat Mitch [Evans] and Cassidy even if we had got the lap count correct from the start.

“They would have just beat me on pure pace. I think Gunther we had the measure of, was a bit of a shame to throw away those three points but, it’s fine.”

Dennis eventually completed a strong defensive drive to claim fourth position after a vigorous resistance of the position from a marauding Vergne and Mueller.

The result means that Dennis loses the championship points lead to second place finisher Cassidy. While Cassidy gained a net 10 points on Dennis, winner Mitch Evans got to within 20 points of his fellow Kiwi and his future Jaguar TCS Racing team-mate after scooping a perfect score of 29 points.

Driver Standings