Formula E championship favourites stumble in Jakarta - Rowland marches towards title, rivals hope for Berlin

The Jakarta E-Prix of Formula E last weekend proved to be a stumbling block for the actual top drivers of the current season. Of the four favourites in the championship, only Antonio Felix da Costa scored double-digit points - twelve for fourth place. Despite a difficult weekend, Oliver Rowland was able to extend his lead to second place and continues to march towards the title.

The Nissan driver received a penalty early in the race for a contact with Max Günther, which dropped him from seventh to tenth place - one single point for the 2025 dominator. As championship runner-up Pascal Wehrlein didn't even manage that, it was another step for Rowland towards his first world championship title.

"I was still able to extend my lead in the Drivers' Championship by a point, which could still be very important at the end of the season," says Rowland, also with an eye on the other championships. "But but we want more than that as we've got close battles in the Teams' and Manufacturers' Standings. We need to understand what went wrong (in qualifying). I'm confident that we can do that and be ready to come back fighting at the front in Berlin."

Rowland has already won in Berlin in the past - in contrast to Wehrlein, who has never made it onto the podium at his home race in nine attempts. So the chances are good that he will take another step closer to his dream in Tempelhof. Who he should keep an eye on, however, is Felix da Costa.

With three Berlin victories (twice in 2020, once in 2024), the Portuguese is the most successful driver in the German capital to date. No other driver has won three races at Tempelhof. And: Felix da Costa is only three points behind Wehrlein in third place overall, 72 points behind Rowland. With three wins in the last four races, he could theoretically overtake the Briton should Rowland come away empty-handed three times. A very unlikely scenario, but there is still some hope.

"The fight goes on" - Rivals want to attack in Berlin

"With Berlin and London, there are still four races left. The fight goes on," says Felix da Costa. He looks back positively on the most recent race in Jakarta: "To have come fourth from ninth place is a good fightback. The conditions were not easy, but it was fun in Jakarta. Fourth place brings good points in the end." Team-mate Wehrlein is also still in the title race and wants to "give everything in the last four races".

A maximum of 116 points are still up for grabs this season. In theory, all drivers up to 11th position (Nyck de Vries) could still become champion. But even Taylor Barnard's chances in fourth place in the championship have dwindled to a minimum after his sixth place in Jakarta. He is 78 points behind his compatriot and mentor Rowland.

"I'm already looking forward to the next race in Berlin, where I was able to drive last season already", says Barnard, who stood in for the injured Sam Bird back then and finished in the points in both races as a rookie with a strong performance. We can therefore look forward to an exciting Berlin E-Prix on 12 and 13 July, in which the world championship favourites are likely to have a bigger say than in Jakarta.