Facts, figures, data: Statistics on the 2023 Formula E race in Cape Town

With the Cape Town E-Prix, Formula E completed its fifth race of the 2023 World Championship on Saturday. We have analyzed all the sessions at the race series' debut in South Africa in detail and summarize all the statistical peculiarities at the Cape of Good Hope for you in this article.

Statistical peculiarities at the Cape Town E-Prix

• Cape Town is the 28th city to host a Formula E race.
• Sacha Fenestraz scored his first pole position in Formula E in Cape Town. It was also the 21st for the Nissan team - formerly e.dams - making it the sole record holder ahead of Techeetah. It was also the first Nissan pole since Oliver Rowland was first on the grid at Puebla in 2021.
• Fenestraz's pole lap was the fastest lap ever recorded at a Formula E race weekend: averaging 154.987 km/h, the Frenchman drove once around the DHL Stadium. The previous best was significantly lower: Antonio Felix da Costa drove 140.5 km/h fast in Valencia in 2021.
• In the first five races of the season, drivers from five different teams have been on pole.
• For the eighth consecutive race, the pole-sitter did not win the race.
• Sebastien Buemi maintains his 100 percent record: He reached the duel stage of qualifying five times in the first five races of the season. No one else managed that.
• In the first five races, bonus points were awarded ten times, going to ten different drivers: Pole position points went to Lucas di Grassi, Sebastien Buemi, Jake Hughes, Mitch Evans and Sacha Fenestraz. The points for the fastest race lap in the top ten went to Jake Dennis, Rene Rast, Sam Bird, Norman Nato and Jean-Eric Vergne. This has never happened before in Formula E history.
• It was the eighth Formula E victory for Antonio Felix da Costa. The Portuguese was last victorious in New York City in 2022. It was also only his second victory that he did not achieve from the first grid position. He previously only managed to do so at the Buenos Aires E-Prix in 2015, more than eight years ago.
• Felix da Costa is also the first driver to win races with four different teams in Formula E. He has also celebrated victories in six different seasons. Only in his 2019/20 championship season did he manage more than one season's victory.
• Porsche celebrated the fourth Formula E victory in its Formula E history in Cape Town. For the first time, the victory was not achieved by Pascal Wehrlein.
• In the first five races of the season, there was always a Porsche driver on the podium. Never before has a team started a season so successfully.
• Jean-Eric Vergne scored his 32nd podium in Cape Town. He finished second for the 13th time overall. In both statistics, only Lucas di Grassi is ahead of him.
• It was the sixth Formula E podium for Nick Cassidy, the first time he has been allowed to take part in the podium ceremony twice in a row.
• It was also the first time in the history of the racing series that the same three drivers have been on the podium in two consecutive races.
• For the first time this season, five different drivers have led a race. For four of those drivers, it was their first lead laps of the season.
• With the withdrawal of the Mahindra team and the consequent retirement of Lucas di Grassi from the grid, there is now no driver who has contested all the E-Prix.
• Never before have there been only 17 cars on the grid at a Formula E race.Even in season 2, there had still been 18 starters per race after the withdrawal of the Trulli team.
• In Cape Town, 13 vehicles reached the finish. That is little, but still well away from the minus record of Formula E: In Valencia 2021, only nine cars were scored.

Qualifying comparison of Formula E teammates (season)

.

Team	Driver 1	Stand	Driver 2
Neom McLaren	Hughes	3 : 2	Rast
Maserati MSG Racing	Günther	2 : 3	Mortara
Jaguar TCS Racing	Evans	4 : 1	Bird
Envision Racing	Buemi	4 : 1	Cassidy
Avalanche Andretti	Dennis	5 : 0	Lotterer
TAG Heuer Porsche	Felix da Costa	0 : 5	Wehrlein
Mahindra Racing	di Grassi	2 : 2	Rowland
Nissan	Nato	1 : 4	Fenestraz
Nio 333 Racing	Sette Camara	1 : 4	Ticktum
DS Penske	Vandoorne	1 : 4	Vergne
ABT Cupra	Frijns	0 : 1	Müller*
	van der Linde*	2 : 1

Since both Mahindra and ABT Cupra drivers did not participate in qualifying in Cape Town, no point was awarded here

.

Position changes (Cape Town E-Prix)

With ten positions gained, race winner Antonio Felix da Costa was the most forward in Cape Town. Behind him were Andre Lotterer and Rene Rast with six positions each. But Stoffel Vandoorne (5) and Sergio Sette Camara (4) also gained significant positions. At the bottom of the statistics are the two front runners Sacha Fenestraz and Max Günther after their retirements with 13 lost positions each. Pascal Wehrlein (-11), who was already eliminated in the first round, is also very far back in the field.

Race laps completed (season)

After the fifth race of the season, a total of eight drivers have still completed all 153 race laps. Lucas di Grassi and Pascal Wehrlein, who had completed all laps by then, are no longer counted among them after the race in Cape Town.

Leading Rounds (Season)

In Cape Town, Sacha Fenestraz, Max Günther, Nick Cassidy and Antonio Felix da Costa collected their first leading laps of the 2023 season, but Jean-Eric Vergne also improved his statistics. But the duo of Pascal Wehrlein and Jake Dennis still has the most lead laps.

Summarized under "others" are: Lucas di Grassi (11), Maximilian Günther (8), Rene Rast (7), Antonio Felix da Costa (5), Sacha Fenestraz (1), Jake Hughes (1)

.

Driver & Team Performance Analysis (Cape Town E-Prix)

The winner of our performance analysis for the Cape Town E-Prix is Sacha Fenestraz. In the final duel, the Frenchman set the fastest time of the weekend (1:07.848 minutes). He is followed by Nick Cassidy (1:08.118) ahead of his final opponent Max Günther (1:08.212). Behind them are Edoardo Mortara (1:18.425), Mitch Evans (1:18.429) and Dan Ticktum (1:18.446). The final four positions are occupied by the four Mahindra-powered cars that did not compete after Free Practice 2.

While Fenestraz, Günther and Evans set their best lap times in the duel stage of qualifying, Cassidy, Mortara and Ticktum set their respective best times in 2nd Free Practice.

.

For the teams, that means the fastest car on a lap was the factory Nissan ahead of Envision's customer Jaguar and the Maserati Tipo Folgore. It is followed by the factory Jaguar ahead of the Nio 333, the DS and the factory Porsche. Behind them are McLaren's customer Nissan and Andretti's customer Porsche, before the factory Mahindra follows. The slowest car in South Africa was again the customer Mahindra from ABT Cupra.

For the manufacturers, that means adjusted: Nissan >>> Jaguar >> DS/Maserati >> Nio 333 >> Porsche >> Mahindra

.

Get behind the leader (Cape Town E-Prix)

In this section, we have mapped out for you how the gaps between the top 5 drivers and the leaders have evolved over the course of the race. We have not taken into account penalties imposed afterwards.

Hovering the mouse cursor over one of the data points on the graphs will show you the exact gap of the driver in the selected lap.

.

Lap Time Analysis (Cape Town E-Prix)

In this section we have shown for you how the lap times of the individual drivers developed in the race. To compensate for individual outliers, we always calculate the average value over three laps. Since the laps behind the safety car distort the picture very strongly and also have no significance, we have also divided the graph into two parts in Cape Town: before the safety car phase in the last third of the race and after.

.

It is noticeable that Nick Cassidy had the highest pace in the early stages of the race, but then had to pay tribute to this pace. As a result, Vergne and Fenestraz were the fastest drivers in the field at first, followed by Antonio Felix da Costa and Mitch Evans, who was handicapped by a drive-through penalty.

After the safety car period, Sergio Sette Camara saved a lot of energy for a final sprint, while Andre Lotterer initially had the best pace. Evans was also quite fast towards the end of the race, but Jake Hughes again had the most trouble keeping up with the pace in the closing stages.

Before the final full-course yellow

.

After the last full-course yellow

.

Note: If you hover over one of the data points on the graphs, you will be shown the driver's name and the averaged lap time of the driver on the selected lap. In addition, the driver's entire turn will be highlighted. You can also achieve the same by hovering over the driver's name in the legend.