Formula E

Facts, figures, data: Statistics on the 2023 Formula E races in Saudi Arabia

Tobias Wirtz

Tobias Wirtz

Formula E continued its ninth season on Friday and Saturday with the Diriyya E-Prix. We have analyzed all the sessions in Saudi Arabia in detail and summarize for you in this article all the statistical anomalies at the second and third races of the 2023 Formula E World Championship.

Statistical peculiarities at the Diriyya E-Prix

  • There was an anniversary race for several drivers at Diriyya: Sam Bird, Sebastien Buemi and Jean-Eric Vergne contested their 100th Formula E race on Friday. For Pascal Wehrlein it was the 50th race, and for Rene Rast it was race number 25.
  • Buemi scored the 15th pole position of his Formula E career on Friday. He thus drew level with Vergne. The last time the Swiss driver secured the top grid spot was at the 2019 New York City E-Prix, more than two and a half years ago.
  • Jake Hughes took his first pole position in only his third Formula E race on Saturday. Pascal Wehrlein was the last driver to score his first pole position so early in Mexico City 2019.
  • At the same time, it was the first Formula E pole for McLaren.
  • Hughes was the seventh Briton to secure the first grid position. The second nation in this statistic is Germany with three drivers.
  • Only the two pole-sitters of the weekend, Buemi and Hughes, drew three times each in the first three races of 2023 in the duel stage of qualifying.
  • Robin Frijns did not travel to the Diriyya E-Prix due to his injury sustained in Mexico. He had missed from the grid for the last time at the fourth race of the 2020 Berlin E-Prix. This was the first time since the 2018 New York City E-Prix that there was no Dutchman on the grid.
  • Maximilian Günther missed Friday's race due to his accident in qualifying. It was the first time since the 2019 Sanya E-Prix that a race was held without the German.
  • Seven drivers finished twice in the top 10 in the first two races of the season. So many drivers managed this only once in Formula E history, namely in season 5.
  • Pascal Wehrlein won his second and third Formula E race in Diriyya. They were also race wins 2 and 3 for Porsche - each time by the German.
  • Jake Dennis and Pascal Wehrlein scored three podium finishes in the first three races of the season. This had previously only been achieved by Lucas di Grassi (Season 1 and Season 2) and Sebastien Buemi (Season 3).
  • For the first time since Season 3, an engine manufacturer won the first three rounds of the season with Porsche. At that time it had been Renault engines.
  • Sam Bird achieved his first podium in Formula E since the 2021 New York City E-Prix on Friday.
  • Rene Rast scored his th Formula E podium on Saturday. It was his first since the 2021 Puebla E-Prix, back then with Audi. It was also the first podium for McLaren in the electric series.
  • In addition, Rast secured the extra point for the fastest race lap for the seventh time on Friday.
  • On Saturday, the extra point went to Sam Bird. The Jaguar driver secured the fastest lap for the eleventh time overall. He is now the sole record holder ahead of Daniel Abt.
  • Sacha Fenestraz scored his first points in the Formula E World Championship on Saturday.
  • Daniel Ticktum scored his second point after the 2021 Rome E-Prix.
  • After Maserati, Nio 333 and Nissan scored for the first time on Saturday, only ABT Cupra is now without points this season.
  • With Pascal Wehrlein, a German driver leads the overall Formula E standings for the first time in history.

Qualifying comparison of Formula E teammates (season)

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

 

Position changes (Diriyya E-Prix)

With 13 positions gained, Jake Dennis was the one to move up the most in Mexico: After nine places on Friday, the Briton improved by four more positions on Saturday. Behind him, two other drivers with Porsche powertrains were on an equal footing: Andre Lotterer and Pascal Wehrlein each improved by twelve places. Norman Nato, who made up nine positions, follows at some distance ahead of Nick Cassidy and Kelvin van der Linde (6 each). At the bottom of the statistics is Oliver Rowland with 18 lost positions. Jake Hughes (-10) also lost out significantly, but that was also due to his much stronger qualifying performance.

Race laps completed (season)

After the third race of the season, a total of 13 drivers have still completed all 120 race laps. In addition to some retirements, there were also two laps in Diriyya: Antonio Felix da Costa and Oliver Rowland lost a lot of time after pit stops and ended up driving one lap less than the frontrunners.

Leadership rounds (season)

At Diriyya, six drivers collected their first lead laps of the 2023 season, but Jake Dennis or Pascal Wehrlein were in front for more than half of the laps.

Driver & Team Performance Analysis (Diriyya E-Prix)

The winner of our performance analysis for the Diriyya E-Prix is Jake Hughes. In the semi-final duel, the Brit set the fastest time of the weekend (1:08.680 minutes). He is followed by Mitch Evans, who was only 0.010 seconds slower in his semi-final duel. Apart from these two drivers, only Rene Rast (1:08.855) and Sebastien Buemi (1:08.925) stayed under 1:09 minutes. Fifth is Sam Bird, who amazingly set his fastest lap time in Saturday's race. He is followed by Pascal Wehrlein, Jake Dennis, Nick Cassidy, Dan Ticktum and Edo Mortara.

At the back of the field are the two ABT Cupra drivers, who were the only drivers to stay above 1:10 minutes. In addition to these two, only Oliver Rowland and Max Günther drove their fastest lap in group qualifying, although only 300 kW of power was used there. The maximum power of 350 kW is only available in the duel phase.

For the teams, this means that the fastest vehicle on a lap was the customer Nissan from McLaren ahead of the factory Jaguar and the customer Jaguar from Envision. It is followed by the factory Porsche ahead of the Andretti customer Porsche, the Nio 333, the Maserati and the DS. Then follow the factory team's Nissan and the Mahindra. The slowest car in Saudi Arabia was again the ABT Cupra customer Mahindra.

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

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Get behind the leader (Diriyya E-Prix)

In this section, we have outlined for you how the gaps between the top 5 drivers and the leaders have developed over the course of the two races. We have not taken into account any penalties imposed subsequently.

Friday's race

Saturday race

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

New: Lap Time Analysis (Diriyya E-Prix)

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How was the performance of the drivers during the race? Which drivers had to slow down in the closing stages to save energy?

In this new section, we've mapped out for you how each driver's lap times performed 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 significance, we didn't include the first laps of the Friday race in Diriyya. For Saturday's race, we have subdivided the graphic: Before the safety car period in the last third of the race and afterwards.

It's noticeable that some drivers ran into power problems at the end of the race. The curve here is particularly noticeable for Kelvin van der Linde, Lucas di Grassi and Jake Hughes on Friday, and Max Günther and again van der Linde and Hughes on Saturday. Also notable: the final spurt by Nick Cassidy on Saturday.

It is also clear to see that the safety car phase in Saturday's race, despite being extended by one lap, ensured that the drivers had more energy available per lap, and the lap times afterwards were faster by more than a second in some cases.

Friday's race

Saturday's race (before the safety car period)

Saturday's race (after the safety car period)

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. Also, the driver's entire turn will then be highlighted.

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