Facts & figures: The best statistics on the 2024 Formula E races in Portland

Formula E held its penultimate race weekend of the 2024 season in Portland last weekend. The two races at Portland International Raceway produced some interesting statistics, milestones and curiosities.

Statistical peculiarities at the Portland E-Prix

• Jean-Eric Vergne was on pole position for the 17th time on Sunday. He thus became the sole record holder. It was also the sixth pole position for Penske, who equalled ABT/Audi and Porsche.
• The Frenchman has driven 21 qualifying duels this season - more than any other driver. He won 15 of them, which is also a season best. His win rate of 71.4 per cent is only surpassed by Oliver Rowland, who won 72.7 per cent of his duels. He is the only driver to have reached the final five times this season, with his team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne doing so four times.
• Antonio Felix da Costa celebrated his 11th and 12th race win in Formula E. He drew level with Sam Bird and Mitch Evans and is now just one win behind record holders Sebastien Buemi and Lucas di Grassi. The Porsche driver has won four out of five consecutive races. This has only happened once before in Formula E: Buemi even won five of the first six races of the season in Season 3.
• It was the first time since the Diriyah E-Prix 2023 that a driver had won both races of a double-header. Back then, his team-mate Pascal Wehrlein had achieved this.
• These were race wins 10 and 11 for Porsche. They overtook Venturi/Maserati and drew level with Andretti. With six wins this season, the team also equalled Renault e.dams' record from season 3.
• For the 13th time in a row the pole setter did not win the race. Only Pascal Wehrlein has managed a race win from pole position this season - at the season opener in Mexico City
• Robin Frijns drove his 100th Formula E race on Sunday. He is the seventh driver to break the 100-race mark.
• Saturday's race was the shortest race in Formula E history at 34:00.097 minutes, but also the fastest Formula E race of all time with an average speed of 152.041 km/h.
• Mitch Evans drove the fastest lap ever driven in an official Formula E session in Free Practice 3 on Sunday: his average speed was 167.26 km/h.
• Lucas di Grassi finished eleventh on Saturday - for the fourth time this season. With just two points, the Brazilian is the most unsuccessful regular driver of the 2024 season, and he also owes these two points to penalties for competitors: he also finished the race in Misano in 11th place before Antonio Felix da Costa was disqualified. In Shanghai, he was only twelfth before Felix da Costa and Max Günther received time penalties and dropped out of the points.
• Dan Ticktum made it to the duel stage of qualifying on Saturday - the first time since Saturday's race at the 2023 London E-Prix. This means that each of the 22 regular drivers in the 2024 season has reached the qualifying duels at least once.
• Mitch Evans has 888 points in Formula E after the Portland E-Prix. He has overtaken Sam Bird and is in fourth place in the all-time leaderboard behind Vergne, di Grassi and Sebastien Buemi.
• With 155 points, it is already the most successful season in terms of points for Pascal Wehrlein in the electric racing series before the season finale in London.
• With 322 points, Jaguar has scored more points this season than any team in Formula E history before them. The previous record was 319 points, collected by Mercedes EQ in Season 8.
• On Saturday, nine different drivers collected lead laps, more than ever before in a single race. In comparison: in 2020, only eight drivers collected lead laps - in the entire season!

Average qualifying position (season)

The best driver in qualifying this season is still Pascal Wehrlein, who is the only driver to have made it into the duel stage of qualifying eleven times in the first 14 races of the season. But Jean-Eric Vergne, Mitch Evans, Nick Cassidy and Stoffel Vandoorne are also doing very well on average. The weakest regular driver is Dan Ticktum, although he made it into the duels for the first time this season in Portland.

Average race result (season)

Nick Cassidy dropped back quite a bit in this statistic after finishing 19th and 13th in Portland. Jean-Eric Vergne has taken the lead, followed by Mitch Evans and Oliver Rowland and Pascal Wehrlein in almost equal positions. Caio Collet is last despite his solid Formula E debut.

Position changes (Portland E-Prix)

The two Andretti drivers Jake Dennis and Norman Nato are the winners in this classification at the Portland E-Prix: Both improved by a total of eleven positions in both races. Behind them is Sebastien Buemi (+10) ahead of Nico Müller and Sergio Sette Camara (+9 each). Jake Hughes (-36) lost the most positions, but Nick Cassidy (-16) and Dan Ticktum (-12) are also down double digits.

Race laps completed (season)

Even after the Portland E-Prix, three drivers have completed all 462 race laps so far this season: Evans, Vergne and Wehrlein. Oliver Rowland, who had only missed one lap before the US races, has dropped back to midfield due to his absence.

Leading rounds (season)

In Portland, 11 of the 22 drivers collected lead laps - but all of them had already been in front at some point this season. The Porsche duo of Pascal Wehrlein and Antonio Felix da Costa have led the most laps this season, followed by the two Jaguar drivers.

Included under "others" are: Sam Bird (21), Norman Nato, Stoffel Vandoorne (15 each), Sebastien Buemi, Max Günther, Robin Frijns (12 each), Nico Müller (10), Jake Hughes (9), Edoardo Mortara (3) and Nyck de Vries (2).

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

The winner of our performance analysis for the Portland E-Prix is once again Mitch Evans. The Jaguar driver set the fastest lap of the weekend in the third free practice session on Sunday (1:08.659 minutes). He was followed by team-mate Nick Cassidy and Antonio Felix da Costa, who were all within a tenth of a second. At the back of the field are Stoffel Vandoorne (1:09.247), Max Günther (1:09.262) and Jehan Daruvala (1:09.740).

The Portland International Raceway was not as demanding as the usual street circuits: Only 0.603 seconds separated the fastest 21 drivers. Strikingly, only Norman Nato drove his fastest lap on Saturday, all the other drivers on Sunday.

The fastest team on one lap was Jaguar ahead of Porsche, followed by McLaren, DS Penske and Andretti. The slowest team was Maserati. Adjusted for the manufacturer ranking, this means Jaguar >>> Porsche >>> Nissan >>> Stellantis >>> ERT >>> Mahindra

Lap time analysis

Saturday

On Saturday, it was noticeable how slow the pace was in the first half of the race despite a short intermediate sprint around lap 5. It was only from lap 13 onwards that the lap times got faster and faster until the finish.

It is easy to see that Sebastien Buemi saved energy after taking his drive-through penalty on the first lap in the hope that a safety car would bring him back to the field. From lap 15 onwards, he had saved enough energy that he was able to step up the pace significantly and was the fastest driver in the entire field at this point.

Also clearly visible is Nick Cassidy's big time loss after his spin in the final stage of the race.

Sunday

In contrast, the pace on Sunday is generally a little faster, and the difference between the lap times at the start of the race and the end of the second third of the race, when the safety car came out onto the track, is much less.

You can see an intermediate sprint by Caio Collet, who reduced his gap to the leader from 6.488 to 2.534 seconds in laps 5 to 8 with the help of four minutes of attack mode. It is also good to see that the two Andretti drivers, who were still in the last two positions on lap 8, picked up the pace and had worked their way into the top ten by lap 12.

Pascal Wehrlein was also driving at this level at this point and worked his way up from 18th place to third after his collision and subsequent front wing loss.