Defensive lesson & counted favorites: The e-Formula.de driver rating for the Hyderabad E-Prix 2023

In front of 25,000 fans, Jean-Eric Vergne celebrated his first Formula E victory of the season last weekend. The Frenchman withstood high pressure from his rival Nick Cassidy before recording the first success for the Penske team since 2016. While the favorites from Jaguar and, for long stretches, Porsche stumbled, one "underdog" was particularly convincing. Our look at the winners and losers of the weekend.

Also this year, the editorial team of e-Formel.de awards points on a scale between 1 and 10 for all drivers after each race weekend of the season. The drivers are then sorted according to their average "rating score", and the best ten performances are commented on by our Formula E reporter Tobias Bluhm. Only the individual driving performances are included in the rating, not the potential of the car or external circumstances.

The e-Formel.de Driver Rating for the Hyderabad E-Prix 2023

1st Jean-Eric Vergne | DS Penske | 9.5 points

With "wider wings than a (Boeing) 777," according to Jean-Eric Vergne's engineer Thibault Arnal, the Frenchman defended first place in the closing stages of the Hyderabad E-Prix. The ex-champion impressed his critics:in particular with how he managed to keep his nose in front during repeated attacks, despite a large energy deficit to Nick Cassidy.

Truly, Vergne also got into the lead position through a lot of luck - cue deleted qualifying times from rivals. But the way he defended the top spot was like an object lesson in the high art of defense.

FAZIT: In the duel with Cassidy, the old fox Jean-Eric Vergne played out all his Formula E experience. A happy but fully deserved victory!

2nd Nick Cassidy | Envision Racing | 8.3 points

No sooner did the Jaguar factory drivers begin to falter than Nick Cassidy and Jaguar's customer team Envision stepped into the spotlight. The New Zealander impressed with a very efficient driving style at the Hyderabad E-Prix and at times had up to four percent more energy in his battery than his direct rivals in the final laps.

Dassidy could not successfully use this advantage against Vergne, possibly also has to do with a typing error of the race control. This warned Vergne in the meantime for leaving the track several times, but initially communicated via the central communication and timing system: "CAR 25 (JEV) - BLACK FLAG". Cassidy's engineer Robert Sattler informed his driver of Vergne's supposed disqualification, whereupon Cassidy held back on a promising overtaking situation in turn 3. A short time later, the FIA corrected the message to "BLACK AND WHITE FLAG" - and Cassidy's overtaking opportunity had evaporated.

FAZIT: Either way, the New Zealander can be very pleased with his performance in Hyderabad.

3rd Mitch Evans | Jaguar TCS Racing | 8.3 points

First there was a lack of luck, then there was bad luck. Even as the pole-sitter lost several positions after an attack-mode activation, Mitch Evans was upset on the radio, asking if his team even wanted to win. Through painstaking overtaking, he had worked his way back to 3rd place on lap 13. Then Evans' teammate Sam Bird, of all people, did the rest.

In a memorable accident in turn 3, the New Zealander's car was so badly damaged that he had to retire from the race in the pits despite his promising starting position. He accepted the apology from Bird, but the internal team climate is unlikely to have been helped at all by the crash.

FAZIT: Without a chance, Evans became the victim of an accident with his teammate despite an excellent performance. This is particularly bitter, because due to Porsche's training waiver, his chances of victory were greater than at any E-Prix this year.

4th Antonio Felix da Costa | TAG Heuer Porsche | 8.0 points

After the serious accident of his teammate Pascal Wehrlein and the related porsche's practice waiver, Antonio Felix da Costa lost valuable practice time on track. The lack of experience made itself felt in qualifying: The Portuguese was already eliminated in the group stage and only started from 13th place. Thanks to retirements and penalties against his rivals as well as a habitually efficient driving style, he nevertheless saw the checkered flag in fourth place. Because Sebastien Buemi lost out on the podium due to a technical offense, this even turned into third place retrospectively.

FAZIT: The first top-3 result with his new team - is the Porsche knot now broken for Felix da Costa?

5th Sebastien Buemi | Envision Racing | 8.0 points

Sebastien Buemi's race pace in Hyderabad was not a whit worse than that of Nick Cassidy. However, due to a worse starting position, the Swiss was delegated to "watch his back" - a task he fulfilled very well. Buemi finished third, but lost this position because of a technical malfunction of his battery but at the "green table." This is a pity, but does not detract from his once again outstanding individual performance.

FAZIT: The upward trend at Sebastien Buemi continues.

6th Sergio Sette Camara | Nio 333 | 7.5 points

For the first two race weekends of the 2023 season, most of the attention at Nio 333 was on Dan Ticktum. Now, however, newcomer Sergio Sette Camara put himself in the spotlight with a flawless drive to 5th place! This must feel like a win for the former backbench team.

Not only did Sette Camara manage to maintain his race pace in Hyderabad (unlike Ticktum in Mexico and Saudi Arabia) to the checkered flag with good efficiency. He also fought his way up an impressive ten positions in the course of the race. In the process, he benefited from accidents and penalties from his rivals, but that doesn't matter to the results lists.

FAZIT: Sette Camara has arrived at his new team. He collected more points in Hyderabad than Nio 333 accumulated in the last 28 races. It's uphill!

7th Pascal Wehrlein | TAG Heuer Porsche | 7.5 points

There was a big scare when Pascal Wehrlein crashed into the wall of turn 18 shortly after the start of the 1st free practice session. Initial speculation was that a faulty linkage in the car's electronics was the cause of his crash - a serious error that could be related to new LED features on Porsche's Gen3 car.

At the start of the 2nd free practice session, both Wehrlein and his car were indeed ready for action again. However, due to the loss of important practice time on the new track, Porsche's motto for the remainder of the weekend was to make up for the experience deficit. In the race, the German was able to exploit the unchanged great efficiency of his powertrain to plow through the field together with his teammate towards the end. So 12th on the grid became 4th at the finish, which was as good as it got.

FAZIT: Wehrlein freed himself from a seemingly hopeless situation and exploited his full potential in the race. The points collected could become important in the world championship battle. Much more decisive, however, is that he is well after his scary accident.

8th Jake Dennis | Avalanche Andretti | 6.8 points

As a result of Wehrlein's accident, both Porsche's factory and customer teams waived laps in practice, Jake Dennis lost valuable information about his car. In the race, starting from 11th on the grid, he was probably even on course for the podium before Rene Rast (McLaren) slashed his rear tire.

FAZIT: After the accident, there was little for Dennis to gain. He chose the India race to a test session from, at the end of which he finished outside the points.

9th Sacha Fenestraz | Nissan | 6.8 points

After an excellent qualifying session in which Fenestraz was once again able to take part in the duels, the Frenchman was on course for a good race result. But then he became an involuntary participant in the Jaguar accident: Fenestraz evaded Evans and Bird into the emergency exit, but could not return directly to the course due to the blocked track. He lost many places and the connection to the points.

FAZIT: Fenestraz was in the wrong place at the wrong time - you can only feel sorry for him.

10th Maximilian Günther | Maserati MSG Racing | 6.8 points

Maximilian Günther was firmly focused in India on making up for his driving mistake from Diriyya qualifying. In time trials for grid positions, he made it to 5th position with a bit of luck and was also doing well in race trim before also getting involved in the Jaguar carnage. At the same time as Bird's braking, the German had decided to activate the attack mode. Just like Fenestraz, his way back onto the track was thus blocked. In the end, he was left with only 13th position.

FAZIT: More bad luck you can hardly have. Head high!