Formula E in Jeddah: Felix da Costa wins Free Practice 2, Mortara & Vandoorne crash shortly before the end

Antonio Felix da Costa was the fastest in Formula E's second free practice session in Jeddah. The Porsche driver improved on the previous day's track record, beating Max Günther (DS Penske) and Jake Hughes (Maserati MSG) as well as the two Nissan drivers. Shortly before the end, there was a collision between Edo Mortara and Stoffel Vandoorne, which led to the session being stopped prematurely.

In bright sunshine, the 22 drivers took to the track for FP2 at 11am (CET). Nico Müller took the lead in the first few minutes ahead of the Jaguar drivers, who had hardly had any pace in Saudi Arabia up to that point. Lucas di Grassi made a small mistake on the brakes, but still set the fastest time. After ten minutes, Robin Frijns brought out the first yellow flag. He slowed on the approach to turn 13 and stopped off the track.

Robin Frijns' stricken Envision heads back to the pits#JeddahEPrix pic.twitter.com/mbcT3k0XVY

- Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) February 14, 2025

"The rear brake was activated", he radioed to his Envision team. The Dutchman was referring to the so-called emergency brake, which actually only kicks in if the recuperative engine brake fails. Race control interrupted the session a little later with the red flag, as it initially looked as if Frijns would not be able to continue under his own power. A little later, however, the second restart of the systems worked. After a few minutes' break, the session continued. Race control added four more minutes.

After the restart, Taylor Barnard in the McLaren took the lead, just before DS Penske driver Max Günther - both with three absolute fastest sector times each. The German already beat the previous track record set by Oliver Rowland in the first free practice session (1:15.849 minutes) with his lap. Sam Bird missed a chicane and had to thread his way back in. A short time later, the Brit moved up to second place. After the McLaren driver, the two Nissan works drivers also moved up to second and third place - another strong sign from the Japanese powertrains.

Late accident brings the session to a premature end

14 minutes before the end, Antonio Felix da Costa set the new fastest lap and made a claim for Porsche. Many drivers then headed to the pits to practise the new Pit Boost, which is possible twice per practice session for each driver. Therefore, things quietened down on the track for a while. It wasn't until three minutes before the end that anything worth mentioning happened again: Nyck de Vries slid head-on into the TecPro barrier in turn 4 and damaged the front wing of his Mahindra - red flag!

🔴 RED FLAG 🔴

Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries have come together at Turn 4#JeddahEPrix pic.twitter.com/HsAvrVZbQJ

- Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) February 14, 2025

The Dutchman was approaching the corner at high speed and at the last moment squeezed onto the inside lane next to Stoffel Vandoorne, who was driving much slower. The two cars collided sideways. While Mortara slid into the wall but was later able to drive back to the pits himself, Vandoorne also initially rolled into the run-off area. However, his Maserati did not appear to have sustained any major damage.

Race control eventually decided not to resume the session, so the 2nd free practice session went to Felix da Costa and Porsche. The first qualifying in Jeddah starts at 1:20 pm (CET). As always, e-Formula.news will be covering the qualifying in our live ticker.

Results & lap times

Championship standings (drivers, teams & manufacturers)