Formula E

Win revives Wehrlein’s Formula E title bid, Jaguars clash again

by Josh Suttill
4 min read

Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein picked up his third win of the 2023 Formula E season in the first Jakarta E-Prix as the Jaguar drivers once again collided.

Jakarta produced one of the most flat-out races of the season with little sign of the ‘after you’ peloton-style racing that’s featured in much of the Gen3 era so far.

There was still a close fight out front however with Wehrlein leading the way for the majority of the race, moving from third to second off the line and then passing poleman Maximilian Guenther with a lunge down the inside of Turn 1 four laps into the 36-lap contest.

Unlike most polesitters this year Guenther was able to keep touch with the lead and helped form a three-strong pack for the win along with Wehrlein and Avalanche Andretti’s Jake Dennis who passed Guenther two-thirds of the way into the race.

The trio were only covered by a couple of seconds for the majority of the second half of the race with the closest exchange for the lead coming when Dennis tried to pass Wehrlein into Turn 1, a move aggressively covered by Wehrlein and one that left Dennis briefly vulnerable to Guenther behind at the next corner.

Wehrlein hung on well for his third victory of the season, one that allows him to close to within two points of Nick Cassidy’s championship lead.

Dennis had to settle for second place but it’s still his third consecutive podium, a run of form that has reinvigorated his title hopes after a mid-season wobble.

Third place marks Guenther and Maserati’s second podium of the season while DS Penske’s Stoffel Vandoorne finished at the head of the chasing pack in fourth ahead of team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne.

Guenther’s team-mate Edoardo Mortara finished in sixth place ahead of points leader Cassidy who records his worst finish since January.

Eighth and ninth places may have gone to Jaguar drivers Sam Bird and Mitch Evans had they not collided late on with Bird running into the back of Evans at Turn 1 and tipping his team-mate towards the barrier.

Bird survived that contact but was then sent into the barriers by a tap from McLaren’s Rene Rast, having just lost out on eighth to the second Porsche of Antonio Felix da Costa.

In the end, da Costa came through for eighth place ahead of Abt Cupra’s Robin Frijns who earned his first points in a race this year, adding to the three bonus points he picked up for pole in Berlin.

The final point went to McLaren’s Jake Hughes who finished just ahead of Nico Mueller and Rast whose fraught race also included a spin-out of eighth place earlier in the race that dropped him three places.

David Beckmann (Andretti) and ex-Formula 1 driver Roberto Merhi (Mahindra) finished 17th and 19th respectively on their Formula E debuts.

Mehri finished ahead of Sebastien Buemi who picked up a puncture after contact with Beckmann on the opening lap.

Race Results

Pos Name Team Car Laps Laps Led Total Time Fastest Lap Pitstops Pts
1 Pascal Wehrlein TAG Heuer Porsche Porsche 99X Electric 36 28 42m21.995s 1m09.813s 0 25
2 Jake Dennis Avalanche Andretti Porsche 99X Electric 36 0 +0.477s 1m09.824s 0 18
3 Maximilian Günther Maserati MSG Racing Maserati Tipo Folgore 36 8 +1.413s 1m09.964s 0 18
4 Stoffel Vandoorne DS Penske DS E-Tense FE23 36 0 +3.871s 1m10.02s 0 12
5 Jean-Eric Vergne DS Penske DS E-Tense FE23 36 0 +4.986s 1m10.048s 0 10
6 Edoardo Mortara Maserati MSG Racing Maserati Tipo Folgore 36 0 +5.587s 1m10.088s 0 8
7 Nick Cassidy Envision Racing Jaguar I-TYPE 6 36 0 +5.982s 1m09.797s 0 7
8 António Félix da Costa TAG Heuer Porsche Porsche 99X Electric 36 0 +20.136s 1m10.063s 0 4
9 Robin Frijns ABT CUPRA Mahindra M9Electro 36 0 +21.687s 1m10.397s 0 2
10 Jake Hughes NEOM McLaren Nissan e-4ORCE 04 36 0 +23.356s 1m10.125s 0 1
11 Nico Müller ABT CUPRA Mahindra M9Electro 36 0 +23.792s 1m10.271s 0 0
12 René Rast NEOM McLaren Nissan e-4ORCE 04 36 0 +25.002s 1m10.008s 0 0
13 Norman Nato Nissan Nissan e-4ORCE 04 36 0 +25.162s 1m10.161s 0 0
14 Daniel Ticktum NIO 333 Racing NIO 333 ER9 36 0 +28.824s 1m10.41s 0 0
15 Lucas Di Grassi Mahindra Racing Mahindra M9Electro 36 0 +29.495s 1m10.423s 0 0
16 David Beckmann Avalanche Andretti Porsche 99X Electric 36 0 +31.079s 1m10.344s 0 0
17 Sérgio Sette Câmara NIO 333 Racing NIO 333 ER9 36 0 +32.102s 1m10.341s 0 0
18 Roberto Merhi Mahindra Racing Mahindra M9Electro 36 0 +46.662s 1m10.707s 0 0
19 Sacha Fenestraz Nissan Nissan e-4ORCE 04 36 0 +48.822s 1m10.314s 0 0
20 Sébastien Buemi Envision Racing Jaguar I-TYPE 6 36 0 +1m0.081s 1m09.755s 0 0
21 Sam Bird Jaguar TCS Racing Jaguar I-TYPE 6 36 0 +1m09.072s 1m09.914s 0 0
Mitch Evans Jaguar TCS Racing Jaguar I-TYPE 6 33 0 DNF 1m10.153s 0 0
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