"Felt like Christmas" - Oliver Rowland gets podium at the Formula E race in Sao Paulo

For most of the race, he remained under the radar, but in the final metres, he was suddenly there: Oliver Rowland secured third place in the Sao Paulo E-Prix of Formula E shortly before the finish line. The Nissan driver could hardly believe his luck even shortly after the race.

In qualifying, it did not look like Rowland would have much to do with the battle for the lead. Due to the penalty for Max Günther, the Brit moved up to eleventh place on the grid and was therefore in the midfield.

"It was busy," said Rowland afterwards, describing his race. "In the beginning it is pretty tricky when you're in the middle of the pack. When I was in around 10th nobody behind really wanted to stay behind. You want to make progress with trying to attack without being attacked."

"But I managed to survive quite well the beginning part of the race and moved my way up. I took both my attack modes just before the second safety car which was pretty good and I didn't lose too much (time). Then I was in seventh (place) and honestly I was pretty happy to take some points on a track that probably doesn't suit me or the car."

"Battery became a big issue"

"Then I got an opportunity to pass JEV (Jean-Eric Vergne) in turn 1," he continues. "Then it became appearant quite quickly that the battery is gonna be quite a big issue for us. So we had to take action quite early, and then I was able to pick off Antonio (Felix da Costa), who I think already had derating with two or three laps to go."

WHAT AN OVERTAKE! ?‍?@Oliverrowland1 gets past Dennis and Wehrlein in the last corner of the #SaoPauloEPrix, securing the final spot on the podium ? pic.twitter.com/ysHF1BZgS3

— Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) March 16, 2024

While Pascal Wehrlein and Jake Dennis battled fiercely for the final podium position ahead of him, Rowland moved to the inside on the final corner and used his momentum to get past the two battling drivers. The Nissan driver finished third, just 0.089 seconds in front of Wehrlein.

"When I was in fifth, it already felt like christmas. In turn 10, I think Pascal (Wehrlein) went in on Jake (Dennis). They were pretty aggressive on each other, put each other right on the inside for 11 and I managed to get up underneath them and beat them till the line, which was pretty cool."

Following third place in Sunday's race in Diriyah, this was Rowland's second podium in a row. The Briton thus moved up to seventh place in the drivers' championship.