Formula E

Formula E in Sanya: Dennis & Drugovich secure a one-two for Andretti, whilst all the championship contenders falter!

Jasmin Fromm

Jasmin Fromm

Jake Dennis secured victory after starting from pole position in Sanya. Joining him on the podium were his team-mate Felipe Drugovich and Pepe Marti in the Cupra Kiro. Porsche’s Nico Müller finished the race in 7th place, whilst his team-mate Pascal Wehrlein finished only 14th following a penalty. The championship leaders Mitch Evans, Oliver Rowland and Edo Mortara didn't score any points, too.

With temperatures reaching 33 degrees and humidity levels exceeding 70 per cent, Formula E returned to the Chinese coastal resort of Sanya for the first time in seven years. Jake Dennis in the Andretti had secured pole position in qualifying, with his team-mate Felipe Drugovich, Mitch Evans in the Jaguar and Dan Ticktum in the Cupra Kiro starting behind him into the 37-lap race.

At the start, debris had to be cleared from the track after the drivers had driven from Turn 4 onto the start-finish straight. Following this brief interruption to clear the debris, the race got underway. There was contact right at the start: Nyck de Vries crashed into the rear of Sebastien Buemi’s Envision. As a result, the Dutchman lost part of his front wing.

Wehrlein works his way up the field early on

Pascal Wehrlein, who started from 8th on the grid, was involved in battles with Drugovich and Evans at the front of the field and found himself in second place behind the leader Dennis by lap 7. Dennis put up a strong defence, but Wehrlein managed to overtake the Andretti driver a few laps later.

As the first driver to utilise Attack Mode, Lola-Yamaha-ABT driver Zane Maloney worked his way up the field, and Dan Ticktum also found himself at the front of the field shortly afterwards thanks to the extra power. Nick Cassidy in the Citroën and Mortara in the Mahindra followed him shortly afterwards. Mortara’s front wing, however, was badly damaged and wobbling violently, the result of contact with Rowland’s Nissan.

Race interruption following Evans’ collision with Maloney

Shortly afterwards, Ticktum crashed into the rear of Evans’ car; the Briton’s car lifted off the ground and he lost his entire front wing as a result of the contact. A red flag period followed to inspect the track barriers at Turn 9, shortly after Evans and Maloney had made contact with them. The Barbadian got his car caught up with the Jaguar and was unable to negotiate Turn 9 properly. This triggered a chain reaction, with several cars coming to a halt behind Maloney and Evans, who had collided.

After a break of around 15 minutes, the race resumed behind the safety car and subsequently continued with a standing start. On the instructions of the FIA, Evans remained in the garage for some time longer and had to have a new rear wing fitted. The championship leader thus lost a whole lap and started from the pits, whilst the others were already back on the starting grid.

Time penalties for Felix da Costa & Wehrlein

Shortly after the restart, Oliver Rowland activated the 350 kW Attack Mode and fought his way to the front of the field. Nico Müller and Antonio Felix da Costa followed suit and found themselves in the top three. Norman Nato caused a full-course yellow after making contact with the track barrier. The Frenchman in the Nissan had made contact with Wehrlein. The German touched him with the nose of his car, pushing him into the wall, and received a five-second time penalty for this incident. Felix da Costa, who was leading at the time, also received a five-second penalty for making contact with Nato.

Shortly before the end of the race, Jake Dennis found himself back at the front of the field in Attack Mode, the position from which he had started. Behind him, his rivals Felix da Costa, Wehrlein and Drugovich were battling it out very closely.

Rowland crashes into the barrier after a driving error

Rowland triggered the next Full Course Yellow: he had entered Turn 4 too fast and crashed the nose of his car into the track barrier. This brought the reigning world champion’s race to a premature end. Another lap followed, but the positions remained largely unchanged.

Dennis thus celebrated his eighth Formula E victory, whilst the Andretti team secured the first one-two finish in its team’s history. For Marti, it was the second podium finish of his still-young Formula E career. The top 10 was completed by Felix da Costa, Günther, de Vries, Müller, Vergne, Barnard and di Grassi. Wehrlein finished the race in 14th place after his time penalty.

In the overall standings, the top four positions remained unchanged: Evans, Rowland, Mortara and Wehrlein failed to score any points in Sanya. Race winner Jake Dennis moved up to fifth place. The team standings also remained unchanged: Jaguar led ahead of Porsche and Mahindra. In the manufacturers’ championship, Porsche extended its lead over Jaguar and Stellantis.

Formula E will then continue its Asian campaign in two weeks’ time. Next on the calendar is the ‘double-header’ in Shanghai on 4 and 5 July.

Results & Times

Overall standings (drivers, teams & manufacturers)

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