Facts & figures: The best statistics for the 2025 Formula E season opener in Sao Paulo

Formula E held the first race of the 2025/26 World Championship in Sao Paulo last weekend. The race in Brazil, which also led through the world-famous Sambadrome in Brazil's largest city, produced some interesting statistics, milestones and curiosities.

Statistical peculiarities at the Sao Paulo E-Prix

• The 2025 Sao Paulo E-Prix was the 149th race in Formula E history, the fourth in Sao Paulo and the fourth in Brazil. This makes it the most frequently held Formula E race in South America. The series had previously raced three times each in Buenos Aires, Punta del Este and Santiago.
• Pascal Wehrlein secured his tenth pole position in Formula E. In Sao Paulo, he secured pole three times in a row - a feat previously only achieved by Sebastien Buemi in New York City and Oliver Rowland in Tokyo. It was also pole position no. 10 for Porsche.
• For the fifth time in history the driver with pole position did not start from grid position 1. Pascal Wehrlein had been demoted three positions in qualifying for wheelspin in the pit lane. He thus followed Nicolas Prost (Putrajaya 2015), Oliver Rowland (Monaco 2019), Nick Cassidy (New York City 2022) and Dan Ticktum (London 2025), who were also penalised as pole-sitters.
• Jake Dennis won his seventh Formula E race on Saturday. He thus drew level with Max Günther and Rowland. It was his first victory since Diriyah 2024 and the first time he has led the drivers' championship since winning his championship title in London 2023.
• For Andretti, it was the twelfth victory in Formula E. For the first time since the Diriyah E-Prix in January 2023, Andretti now leads the team standings. For the 125th time in total, an Andretti driver finished in the Top 10.
• Oliver Rowland scored his 21st podium in Formula E, his first since his victory in Tokyo in May. For Nissan (including e.dams), it was the 55th Formula E podium.
• For Cassidy it was the 26th podium in the electric series. It was the first podium for the Citroen Racing team under this name in Formula E, for the Monaco-based former Venturi and MSG team it was podium number 30 in total.
• Joel Eriksson achieved his best Formula E result to date in 7th place.
• Same for Zane Maloney, who scored his first point in Formula E in Sao Paulo. The Lola Yamaha ABT driver is the 69th driver to score points in Formula E.
• Andretti and Porsche continued their points-scoring streak in Sao Paulo and have now scored points in seven consecutive races - more than any other team.
• After his retirement, Mitch Evans failed to stand on the podium for the first time in a Sao Paulo E-Prix.
• Jaguar remained without points for the first time since the first race of the Shanghai E-Prix, having won four races in a row recently.
• Norman Nato set the fastest race lap in Sao Paulo, but was 0.02 seconds slower than the fastest lap in 2024, meaning the lap record at the circuit is still held by David Beckmann, who watched the Sao Paulo E-Prix as co-commentator and expert on German television station DF1.
• At 59:23 minutes, the Sao Paulo E-Prix was the shortest race in Formula E history that was interrupted by a red flag and then continued. It was 13 seconds shorter than the 2019 Hong Kong E-Prix, which previously held this record.
• Pepe Marti was the fourth time in history that had a rollover in a Formula E race. Each time it happened on the opening weekend of a season: Nick Heidfeld (Season 1 in Beijing), Alex Lynn (Season 7 in Diriyah), Wehrlein (Season 11 in Sao Paulo).

Position changes (Sao Paulo E-Prix)

With a total of twelve positions gained, Cassidy was the driver who advanced the most in Sao Paulo. But Eriksson, Rowland (+11 each), Günther and Maloney (+10 each) also made double-digit gains.

At the bottom of the list are Ticktum (-18), Mortara (-14) and Nato (-12). All three drivers made it into the duels in qualifying and secured very good grid positions, but retired from the race.

Race laps completed (season)

Only 13 of the 20 drivers completed the full distance of 30 laps at the season opener. Cupra Kiro is the only team not to have a driver who completed all laps.

Leading laps (season)

Dennis and Rowland share the top position in the lead laps ahead of Wehrlein after the season opener.

Under "other" are summarised: Edoardo Mortara, Nico Müller and Jean-Eric Vergne (1 each).

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

The fastest man at the Sao Paulo E-Prix was Wehrlein. In the semi-final duel, the Porsche driver set the best lap time of the weekend (1:09.804 minutes). What was particularly striking was that he set three more laps under 1:09.9 minutes in the second free practice session, the quarter-final and the final. Apart from him, only Ticktum managed to drive a lap time under 1:09.9 minutes, but he lost out to Wehrlein in the semi-final. He was followed by Nyck de Vries, who was the last driver to stay under 1:10 minutes. Behind them were Dennis, Mortara, Rowland, Nato and Vergne, who were already more than four tenths of a second behind Wehrlein. At the back of the field were di Grassi (1:10.906), Marti (1:11.038) and Maloney (1:11.163), who was more than 1.3 seconds off the pace.

The four drivers who made it into the semi-finals of qualifying (Dennis, Mortara, Ticktum, Wehrlein) also set their best lap times there. All the other drivers did so in the FP2 session on Saturday morning.

The fastest team on one lap was Porsche ahead of Cupra Kiro. They were followed by Mahindra, Andretti and Nissan. The slowest team in Sao Paulo was Lola Yamaha ABT. Adjusted for the manufacturer ranking, this means Porsche >>> Mahindra >>> Nissan >>> Stellantis >>> Jaguar >>> Lola Yamaha