Facts & figures: The best statistics for the 2024-25 Formula E season opener in Brazil

Formula E held its first race of the 2024-25 season in Sao Paulo on Saturday. The very first race weekend with the Gen3 Evo cars produced some interesting statistics, milestones and curiosities.

Statistical peculiarities at the Sao Paulo E-Prix

• For the second time in the history of Formula E, a second race weekend was held in a city in the same calendar year: After the race in March, the racing series raced again in Sao Paulo almost nine months later. The only time this has happened in the past was in the 2020 coronavirus season, when Formula E held three race weekends in Berlin within nine days.
• Sao Paulo was the venue for an E-Prix for the third time. Mitch Evans stood on the podium in every race in Brazil. For the third time, the two drivers from the front row of the grid did not make it onto the podium.
• Mitch Evans celebrated his 13th Formula E victory. He is now number one in the all-time best list, level with Lucas di Grassi and Sebastien Buemi. Never before has a driver won a Formula E race by starting from the last place on the grid. The previous record was held by Lucas di Grassi, who won the 2017 Mexico City E-Prix from 15th on the grid. It was also the 47th podium for Jaguar, bringing the team level with ABT.
• Antonio Felix da Costa celebrated his 24th Formula E podium in Sao Paulo. For Porsche, it was podium no. 23, leaving Mercedes behind them.
• At the age of 20 years and 190 days, Taylor Barnard became the youngest driver to stand on the podium in Formula E. He replaced Daniel Abt, who had held this record since the 2015 Miami E-Prix and lost it after 3556 days. This means that all four McLaren drivers have each achieved exactly one podium with the team in Formula E: In addition to Barnard, these are Sam Bird (Sao Paulo, March 2024), Jake Hughes (Shanghai 2024) and Rene Rast (Diriyah 2023).
• For the first time in Formula E history, the reigning champion secured the first pole position of the season. It was the seventh pole position for Wehrlein in Formula E, including the sixth with Porsche and his second one in a row at the season opener. Wehrlein reached the duel phase of qualifying for the 30th time, drawing level with Mitch Evans and Stoffel Vandoorne. However, it was also Wehrlein's first retirement since the 2023 Cape Town E-Prix. This ended a streak of 27 consecutive finishes.
• Lola Yamaha ABT driver Zane Maloney became the fourth-youngest Formula E driver of all time behind Taylor Barnard, Paul Aron and Matthew Brabham. David Beckmann became the fourth youngest driver to set the fastest lap time in an E-Prix. Only Daniel Abt, Mitch Evans and Pascal Wehrlein were younger.

Position changes (Sao Paulo E-Prix)

With a total of 20 positions gained, Mitch Evans was naturally the one who advanced the most in Sao Paulo. From 22nd on the grid to race victory - that's as good as it gets. However, as Robin Frijns did not take part in the E-Prix, there were only 21 starters and positions gained by him.

Behind Evans in this statistic are Nyck de Vries with 14 and Taylor Barnard with 13 positions won. At the bottom of the list are Jake Dennis and Pascal Wehrlein: both started well up front but retired during the race. Dennis with a technical defect, Wehrlein after a collision with Nick Cassidy.

Race laps completed (season)

14 drivers completed all 35 race laps in Brazil. David Beckmann, Nick Cassidy, Jake Dennis, Lucas di Grassi, Jake Hughes, Nico Müller and Pascal Wehrlein retired. Robin Frijns did not even start the race.

Leading laps (season)

Oliver Rowland collected the most lead laps in Brazil, leading almost half of the race. The remaining lead kilometres went to the two Jaguar and Porsche drivers.

Performance analysis of the drivers & teams (Sao Paulo E-Prix)

The winner of our performance analysis for the Sao Paulo E-Prix is Jake Dennis. The Andretti driver set the fastest time of the weekend in the second free practice session (1:09.617 minutes). He was followed by Antonio Felix da Costa, just 0.038 seconds behind, ahead of Oliver Rowland and Pascal Wehrlein. 19 drivers were within one second of each other in Brazil. Jake Hughes (1:10.852) and the Lola Yamaha ABT duo Lucas di Grassi (1:10.923) and Zane Maloney (1:11.053), who were almost 1.5 seconds off the best time, were at the back of the field.

The fastest team on one lap was Andretti, just ahead of Nissan and Porsche. They were followed by Jaguar, Envision and DS Penske. The slowest team in Sao Paulo was Lola Yamaha ABT. Adjusted for the manufacturers' ranking, this means Porsche >>> Nissan >>> Jaguar >>> DS/Maserati >>> Mahindra >>> Lola Yamaha

Lap time analysis (Sao Paulo E-Prix)

In the lap time analysis (we only show the laps after the safety car phase and before the first race suspension), it is striking how much the drivers benefited from the new attack mode with all-wheel drive.

Nick Cassidy activated his first Attack Mode immediately after the end of the safety car phase and showed for the first time what leaps in performance are possible with the extra power this season when he gained eight positions within a single lap. The Porsche drivers activated their attack mode on lap 16 and stormed to the front of the field. But Zane Maloney was also fast in attack mode and worked his way up from 17th to 7th place.

The McLaren drivers' turn is striking: After early drive-through penalties, they saved energy and drove around five seconds per lap slower than the front runners. A strategy that paid off: the race interruption enabled Barnard and Bird to catch up with the field and gain a huge energy advantage over their rivals, which ultimately put them in third and fourth place.