Facts, figures, data: Statistics on the 2023 Formula E race in Sao Paulo

The Formula E World Championship completed its sixth race of the 2023 season on Saturday with the Sao Paulo E-Prix. We have analyzed all the sessions at the race series' debut in Brazil in detail and summarize all the statistical peculiarities for you in this article.

Statistical peculiarities at the Sao Paulo E-Prix

• Sao Paulo is the 29th city to host a Formula E race. It was also the third consecutive race to be held in a country where Formula E had never raced before.
• Following Sacha Fenestraz's speed record in Cape Town (an average of 154.9 km/h on a lap), Antonio Felix da Costa averaged 147.7 km/h during his course record in Sao Paulo in 2nd Free Practice. That makes the circuit in Brazil the second-fastest in Formula E history behind Cape Town and ahead of Valencia (140.5 km/h).
• In addition, a new topspeed record in Formula E was set in Sao Paulo: Formula E stated that Nio 333 driver Sergio Sette Camara was measured at 264.1 km/h. After the 1st Free Practice, however, the racing series had published a graphic on Instagram, which stated Sebastien Buemi with 266.5 km/h. Which of the information is correct, we can unfortunately say.
• Stoffel Vandoorne scored his eighth pole position in Formula E in Sao Paulo.
• It was also the th pole position for the Penske team. In the history of the U.S. team, only Jerome d'Ambrosio had previously taken the first starting position, more than seven years ago in Punta del Este and in Mexico City. Since then, 2,569 days have passed.
• In the first six races of the 2023 season, six different drivers have been on pole. But that's not all: they drove for six different teams!
• Norman Nato started from the top 10 - the first time he has done so since the 2021 Berlin E-Prix, where he won the race from 6th on the grid.
• Mitch Evans became the first driver this season to contest more than ten qualifying duels.
• Stoffel Vandoorne became the first driver in the racing series to make it to the qualifying duels for the 15th time.
• It was the seventh Formula E victory for Mitch Evans. The last time both the New Zealander and the Jaguar team were victorious was in Seoul in 2022.
• For the ninth consecutive race, the pole-sitter did not win the race.
• Nick Cassidy stood on the podium in Brazil for the seventh time - and the third time in a row.
• For the first time since the chaotic race at Valencia in 2021, Sam Bird was on the podium despite a five-place grid penalty. Nyck de Vries had even won the race then.
• For the third time since the introduction of drive development in 2015, three drivers with identical drives stood on the podium. At the 2022 Berlin E-Prix it was Nyck de Vries, Edoardo Mortara (Venturi) and Stoffel Vandoorne for Mercedes, and in Santiago in 2017 it was Renault drivers Jean-Eric Vergne, Andre Lotterer (both Techeetah), Sebastien Buemi.
• Andre Lotterer is the only driver on the grid after the Sao Paulo E-Prix who has always been in the top 12 in the race.
• With 41 points in Sao Paulo, Jaguar Racing almost doubled its points haul from the season so far. Before the Brazil race, the team had 42 points on its account.
• There were a total of 114 overtaking maneuvers at the Sao Paulo E-Prix. This means that each of the 22 drivers in the starting field overtook an average of more than five opponents.
• Totally, 14 different drivers have now collected lead laps this season - around two-thirds of the entire starting field!
• For the Nissan team, it was the first double retirement since the 2019 Hong Kong E-Prix.

Qualifying comparison of Formula E teammates (season)

Team	Driver 1	Stand	Driver 2
Neom McLaren	Hughes	4 : 2	Rast
Maserati MSG Racing	Günther	2 : 4	Mortara
Jaguar TCS Racing	Evans	5 : 1	Bird
Envision Racing	Buemi	4 : 2	Cassidy
Avalanche Andretti	Dennis	6 : 0	Lotterer
TAG Heuer Porsche	Felix da Costa	1 : 5	Wehrlein
Mahindra Racing	di Grassi	2 : 3	Rowland
Nissan	Nato	2 : 4	Fenestraz
Nio 333 Racing	Sette Camara	2 : 4	Ticktum
DS Penske	Vandoorne	2 : 4	Vergne
ABT Cupra	Frijns	0 : 2	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

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Position changes (Sao Paulo E-Prix)

With eleven positions gained, Pascal Wehrlein was the most forward in Sao Paulo. Behind him were Andre Lotterer and Lucas di Grassi with nine positions each. But Sam Bird (7) and Robin Frijns (6) also gained significant positions. At the bottom of the statistics are Edoardo Mortara and Norman Nato, who started far in front, with 15 and 14 places lost respectively after their retirements. Jake Dennis and Sacha Fenestraz (both -6), who also retired, are also way down the field.

Race laps completed (season)

After the sixth race of the season, a total of six drivers have yet to complete all 220 race laps. Jake Dennis and Sacha Fenestraz, who had completed all the laps by then, are no longer counted after the race in Sao Paulo.

Leading Rounds (Season)

In Sao Paulo, Stoffel Vandoorne collected his first lead laps of the 2023 season, but Nick Cassidy, Mitch Evans and Antonio Felix da Costa also improved their statistics. The duo of Pascal Wehrlein and Jake Dennis still have the most lead laps, but they have not led since Diriyya and Mexico, respectively.

Summarized under "others" are: Stoffel Vandoorne (12), Lucas di Grassi (11), Antonio Felix da Costa (8), Maximilian Günther (8), Rene Rast (7), Sacha Fenestraz (1), Jake Hughes (1)

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Driver & team performance analysis (Sao Paulo E-Prix)

The winner of our performance analysis for the Sao Paulo E-Prix is Antonio Felix da Costa. In the 2nd Free Practice session, the Porsche driver set the fastest time of the weekend (1:11.496 minutes). He is followed almost equally by Maximilian Günther (1:11.762) and Norman Nato (1:11.763). Behind them are Mitch Evans (1:11.843), Pascal Wehrlein (1:11.853) and Jake Dennis (1:11.872). At the back of the field are Robin Frijns (1:12.475) and Oliver Rowland (1:12.582), who was the only driver more than a second off the best time.

While Felix da Costa, Günther, Nato, Wehrlein and Dennis set their best lap times in 2nd Free Practice, Evans set his best time in the duel stage of qualifying.

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

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

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Lagging behind the leader (Sao Paulo E-Prix)

In this section, we have shown 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.

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Lap Time Analysis (Sao Paulo E-Prix)

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In this section you can see how the lap times of each driver have evolved during the race. To compensate for individual outliers, we always calculate the average value over three laps. Since the laps behind the safety car very much distort the picture and also have no meaningfulness, we "truncated" the graphic in Sao Paulo: We only present the data from lap 20 onwards.

It's noticeable that Pascal Wehrlein was initially fastest after the final safety car period, but then the Jaguar drivers took the "reins": first Nick Cassidy, then Sebastien Buemi and then Sam Bird. Maximilian Günther put in a good final sprint and was the fastest driver in the field for the last three laps. However, that was of no use to him - he did not finish higher than 11th.

The Mahindra drivers and especially Sergio Sette Camara, on the other hand, lost ground in the final laps. Stoffel Vandoorne also lost quite a bit of time in the final seven laps due to his energy deficit.

Note: If you hover over one of the data points on the graphs, you will see the name of the driver 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.