"A very dangerous move from him" - De Vries crash & FCY issue instead of race win for Jake Dennis

Jake Dennis experienced the full spectrum of emotions at the Formula E race in Jakarta. After his first pole position of the season, Nyck de Vries initially drove into his car at the fastest point of the track in the battle for victory. The Andretti driver later suffered a technical error at the end of the first full-course yellow period. Apparently, his speed limiter could not be released.

Dennis was actually the man of the day. The Briton confidently led the race from pole position and looked like the most likely winner for 23 laps. Then his rival de Vries drove alongside him on the long start/finish straight in Attack Mode on the outside lane and pulled aggressively to the right to get ahead of Dennis.

However, the Mahindra driver misjudged the space he had and tore off the left half of the Andretti's front wing. "I don't think there's much to say about that. The onboard footage says it all", says Dennis exclusively to e-Formula.news. "That was obviously a very dangerous move from his side. Luckily, none of us got hurt."

We have contact at the front of the pack! 🫨

De Vries makes the move on Dennis causing the Andretti front wing to fly off.#JakartaEPrix pic.twitter.com/oJiupxaupi

— Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) June 21, 2025

Despite the damage, both were initially able to continue, but "my car was obviously not in the best condition afterwards", says Dennis. The scene had more serious consequences for de Vries, who caused the accident: he received a 10-second time penalty shortly afterwards, which was supposed to be added to his race time at the end.

De Vries: 10-second penalty "not my decision"

"The penalty is what it is - it's not my decision", de Vries told e-Formula.news, without - despite being asked - going into more detail about the situation or admitting his guilt. "The stewards judge our races and I accept that."

There is no question for Dennis as to who was to blame for the accident. But he also has no clear opinion on the chosen penalty: "I don't know - maybe they could be more strict, but I haven't spoken to him yet. It didn't change my race much, even if it could have. It is what it is."

Technical error costs Dennis a possible win

Even after the accident, Dennis was still on course for victory. However, at the end of lap 31 - at the end of the first full-course yellow phase - he suffered a technical issue. "I had a small problem that we are still investigating to make sure exactly what it was."

According to our information, Dennis was probably unable to release his speed limiter, which makes the car drive at a maximum speed of 50 km/h under full-course yellow conditions. As a result, he dropped to the back of the field and lost any chance of winning the race.

After a so-called power cycle, i.e. a restart of the systems, the Brit was able to continue, but ultimately finished in 17th place and came away empty-handed in Jakarta - apart from the three points for his pole position.