Facts & Figures: The best Formula E statistics on the Portland E-Prix

Formula E held its twelfth of 16 races this season in Portland this weekend. The E-Prix at the permanent race track in the state of Oregon produced some interesting statistics, milestones and curiosities.

Statistical oddities at the Portland E-Prix

• Jake Dennis scored his 4th pole position in Formula E - his first of the current season and also the first for a Gen3 car powered by Porsche. He thus drew level with Lucas di Grassi and Mitch Evans. Dennis had previously become the first driver in history to reach the final duel of a qualifying session for the 3rd time in a row. In his semifinal, he drove the fastest lap ever in Formula E with an average speed of 166.63 km/h.
• Nick Cassidy won his 4th Formula E race, three of them this season. This marked the 5th time the New Zealand anthem has been played for a driver in the 12th race of the season. Cassidy was also the only driver to stand on the podium at every race of the season held in a new city (Hyderabad, Cape Town, Sao Paulo and Portland).
• Thanks to Cassidy's win and 5th place by Sebastien Buemi, Envision Racing (formerly Virgin) became the first team in the electric series to crack the 1,500 points mark! It was the 15th victory in Formula E for the British team, drawing Envision level with Techeetah. It was the 5th time the team has been victorious in the U.S. - no other team has scored more than two wins in the States.
• Jake Dennis scored his 14th Formula E podium with second place, putting him already eighth in the "all-time statistics". It was his 5th podium in a row and already the 8th of the current season! He thus equaled Stoffel Vandoorne's best mark from the previous season. Nine podiums in one season has never been achieved by any driver.
• Max Günther reached the duel stage in Portland for the 8th time in the last nine races. No one but him has ever accomplished that. Günther as well as Jake Dennis and Mitch Evans have now each won 15 duels this season. Sebastien Buemi and Jake Hughes follow with 14 head-to-head victories each.
• Formula E announced shortly after the Portland E-Prix that there had been 403 overtakes in total. However, there are different views on whether this record number of position changes also speaks for good racing as many drivers once again let their rivals pass in order to be able to save energy in their slipstream. Our Editor-in-Chief Timo Pape has written an analysis worth reading about this phenomenon.
• Portland is the 30th city where Formula E has held a race. After Miami, Long Beach and New York City, Portland is the 4th race venue in the U.S. - more than any other country. Nick Cassidy scored points in all five races he contested in the United States, winning in every U.S. city where he competed (New York and Portland). Robin Frijns has even scored points in the U.S. six times in a row.
• Lucas di Grassi scored his first points since the season opener in Mexico City in Portland. Pascal Wehrlein was a completely different story: The Porsche driver was the only driver in the race series to finish twelve times in the top 10. Only in Cape Town did he not make it into the points, when he retired on lap 1.
• For the 19th time, a British driver finished an E-Prix in 2nd place - the best value in this nations ranking. Also the top values for the podium positions 1 and 3 are currently at 19: Swiss drivers celebrated 19 victories, and 19 times drivers from Germany were in 3rd position. You still have not enough of the number 19? Antonio Felix da Costa stands at 19 podium finishes after his 3rd place in Portland, Dan Ticktum took part in 19 races. And now guess how many fastest laps British drivers and how many pole positions French drivers have achieved?

Qualifying comparison of Formula E teammates (season)

Team	Driver 1	Score	Driver 2
Neom McLaren	Hughes	8 : 4	Rast
Maserati MSG Racing	Günther	7 : 5	Mortara
Jaguar TCS Racing	Evans	9 : 3	Bird
Envision Racing	Buemi	6 : 6	Cassidy
Avalanche Andretti	Dennis	9 : 1	Lotterer
		2 : 0	Beckmann
TAG Heuer Porsche	Felix da Costa	2 : 10	Wehrlein
Mahindra Racing	Rowland	5 : 3	di Grassi
	Merhi	0 : 3
Nissan	Nato	3 : 9	Fenestraz
Nio 333 Racing	Sette Camara	3 : 9	Ticktum
DS Penske	Vandoorne	5 : 7	Vergne
ABT Cupra	Frijns	3 : 5	Müller
	Van der Linde	2 : 1

Since both Mahindra and ABT Cupra drivers did not participate in qualifying in Cape Town, no points were awarded there.

Average qualifying result (season)

The most consistent driver in qualifying so far is still Mitch Evans: the Jaguar driver reached the duel stage eight times in the first twelve races of the season, giving him an average grid position of 6.8. Behind him are Jake Dennis (7.2) and Sebastien Buemi (8.2). Max Günther (8.6), Nick Cassidy, Jean-Eric Vergne, Pascal Wehrlein (9.3 each) and Jake Hughes (9.4) also have a single-digit average. The worst regular driver in qualifying is Lucas di Grassi (16.2).

Average race result (season)

The most consistent driver in the race so far this season has been Nick Cassidy. He finished in an average position of 5.7, with Pascal Wehrlein coming behind him in an average position of 5.8. Jake Dennis (6.9) and Jean-Eric Vergne (7.7) follow ahead of Mitch Evans (7.8), Antonio Felix da Costa (8.4), Sebastien Buemi (9.5) and Max Günther (9.8). At the back is Nico Müller (15.7), but still ahead of reserve drivers David Beckmann (18.0), Kelvin van der Linde (18.7) and Roberto Merhi (19.0).

Position changes (Portland E-Prix)

With a total of 16 positions gained, Mitch Evans was the one to move up the most in Portland. Behind him are Sebastien Buemi with eleven and Stoffel Vandoorne, Jean-Eric Vergne as well as Pascal Wehrlein with ten gained positions each. Nick Cassidy (9) and Lucas di Grassi (6) also gained significant places in the race. At the bottom of the statistics is Sacha Fenestraz: He had started from the front row, but fell far behind after a front wing swap - in the end, 13 places lost for him.

Race laps completed (season)

After the twelfth race of the season, three drivers have still completed all 438 race laps: Sebastien Buemi, Nick Cassidy and Jean-Eric Vergne.

Lead laps (Season)

In Portland, another driver, Norman Nato, collected his first lead laps of the season. That means 19 of 25 drivers have now led an E-Prix in 2023! Nick Cassidy retook the top spot from Pascal Wehrlein thanks to 16 lead laps in the U.S.

Summarized under "others" are: Antonio Felix da Costa, Stoffel Vandoorne (13 each), Lucas di Grassi (11), Norman Nato (8), Jake Hughes, Rene Rast, Dan Ticktum (7 each), Robin Frijns, Nico Müller (3 each), Sacha Fenestraz and Edoardo Mortara (2 each)

Performance analysis (Portland E-Prix)

The winner of our performance analysis for the Portland E-Prix is Jake Dennis. In his semifinal duel, the Andretti driver set the fastest time of the weekend (1:08.919 minutes). He was followed by Sacha Fenestraz, just 0.001 seconds behind. The two were the only drivers to stay under the 1:09 minute mark. At the end of the field were Nick Cassidy (1:10.188) and Roberto Merhi (1:10.482), who were more than a second off the best time.

The fastest team on one lap was Andretti just ahead of Nissan. They were followed by McLaren, Maserati and the technically identical DS. The slowest car in the USA had Mahindra. For the manufacturer ranking, this means: Porsche >>> Nissan >> DS/Maserati >> Jaguar >>> Nio 333 >>> Mahindra

Lap time analysis (Portland E-Prix)

When looking at the lap time analysis (we only show the laps after the two safety car phases due to distortion), it is noticeable that the race pace was initially very slow: the drivers were tactical and conserving energy, with lap times around 1:19 minutes. From lap 21 onward, the pace was increased significantly. Some drivers even drove lap times of 1:11 minutes.

Catching the eye is the turn of Jean-Eric Vergne: After the Frenchman, who had to start from pit lane, had worked his way up to fourth position, he had to pay tribute to his energy disadvantage and was unable to increase the pace in the closing stages like his immediate rivals. Andre Lotterer's problem in the final laps is also easy to see: The Andretti driver had lost his front wing and subsequently dropped far behind the field. Jake Hughes also had to slow down significantly in the end.

You can also see, with an eye on the fight for victory, that Jake Dennis slowed down a few laps before the end in order to be able to attack again at the end of the race. Since Antonio Felix da Costa - in contrast to Nick Cassidy - was unable to pick up speed in the final laps, this tactic still allowed the Andretti driver Dennis to pass the factory Porsche.

Position History (Portland E-Prix)

In this section you can see what position each driver occupied at the end of a lap.

Gap behind the leader (Portland 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.