Formula E

Formula E in Sao Paulo: Evans wins chaotic race from last place on the grid, Wehrlein rolls over

Timo Pape

Timo Pape

Mitch Evans won a chaotic Formula E season opener in Sao Paulo - from last place on the grid! Behind the runner-up, Antonio Felix da Costa, Taylor Barnard in the McLaren, who had even been lapped in the meantime, finished just as sensationally. The race was interrupted twice by red flags, including after a spectacular rollover by Pascal Wehrlein, who fortunately remained uninjured.

As everyone awaited the start, the first incident occurred: Robin Frijns waved his hands wildly because his Envision had completely run out, which meant that the start was initially cancelled. Track marshals pushed the Jaguar customer car backwards through the starting grid and finally back into the pit lane. The race then got underway a good four minutes late. Pole-sitter Pascal Wehrlein did not get away as well as his final qualifying opponent Oliver Rowland and lost the lead to the Briton in the Nissan. Behind him, Max Günther passed third-placed Jake Dennis, who then reported slight damage to the front right over the radio and scolded Günther: "Max is just Max."

? WE GO GREEN IN SÃO PAULO!!! ?

Oliver Rowland gets the jump on Pascal Wehrlein at the start and leads! #SaoPauloEPrix pic.twitter.com/ZoVbzkMxQM

Mitch Evans got off to an outstanding start and fought his way up from last to 15th place in just one lap! Sam Bird also made up several positions. Lap 2 saw the first serious crash: almost simultaneously, Jake Hughes and Sebastien Buemi as well as Nico Müller and David Beckmann made light contact in turn 6. Hughes first lost control and slid sideways into the wall at the exit of the corner, then the same thing happened to Müller directly behind him. He skidded into the Maserati that had already crashed. Both were unable to continue and had to be towed away. Race control ordered the safety car onto the track.

On lap 6 of 31, the race finally resumed at race pace. At the restart, there were initially no overtaking manoeuvres in the leading group. Then the first drivers took their first of two mandatory attack modes. Thanks to the new all-wheel drive mode, the high-performance mode makes a much bigger difference this season than before. Nick Cassidy worked his way to the front of the field within a short time! Meanwhile, local hero Lucas di Grassi had to park his Lola Yamaha ABT after a technical error, incidentally also with a damaged front wing.

On lap 11, Norman Nato took the lead from Cassidy in attack mode. But then came the bad news for the Nissan driver and both McLaren drivers: All three received a drive-through penalty for "power overuse" - the three Nissan cars had briefly drawn too much energy from the battery. As a result, they dropped to the back of the field. Cassidy took the lead again, but had already used two per cent more energy due to the attack mode. On lap 13, Rowland took the lead again, while the two Porsche drivers were now at the back of the top 10.

Red flag after Dennis defect

Rowland was the last driver to take his first attack mode shortly before the halfway point of the race, but remained in front. He was followed at this time by Cassidy, Dennis, Evans, Nyck de Vries and rookie Zane Maloney! Looking at the energy levels, things were looking particularly good for Rowland, Dennis and Felix da Costa. Wehrlein fought his way back to the front in attack mode and took the lead for the first time at the Sao Paulo E-Prix on lap 18. His team-mate followed the same strategy and overtook Rowland one lap later - a double lead for Porsche.

Rowland reacted, however, also picking up his second attack mode and initially dropping back to fourth place behind de Vries. The top five were now all in attack mode. On lap 20, Felix da Costa overtook his Porsche colleague Wehrlein and took the lead. Dennis experienced a moment of shock as he braked for Turn 1: his brakes did not grip properly and he shot straight ahead. He eventually came to a halt without shooting off another car, but his Andretti displayed a "red" status, which means "not safe". Race control therefore had to interrupt the E-Prix with a red flag!

Rowland lost about 3:30 minutes in attack mode as a result, but was still well ahead in the "adjusted" classification. However, when the red flag was waved, Felix da Costa was the leader. The drivers directly behind them - Günther, Wehrlein and Mortara - had all already completed both attack modes. So the cards were actually in favour of Felix da Costa and Rowland. However, both Jaguar drivers still had one attack mode open. Cassidy was in sixth place at this point and suddenly had a good chance of victory, while team-mate Evans was eleventh. With its remaining attack modes, McLaren was also suddenly considered a secret favourite for a podium result.

Drama for Rowland, Jaguar marches through the field

After a very long interruption of more than half an hour, the race finally resumed - with a standing start. Rowland once again got away better and fought his way past Felix da Costa! And Wehrlein also lost a position. Günther was suddenly second behind Rowland. On lap 24, Cassidy picked up his second attack mode and initially dropped back to eighth place. Now he made a break for the front. While Maloney received a drive-through penalty for "power overuse", David Beckmann also dropped to the back of the field on his debut as a regular driver and drove into the pits with damage to the left rear.

? WE GO GREEN AGAIN!!! ?

Oliver Rowland gets the jump on António Félix da Costa into Turn 1!

Nine laps remain ?#SaoPauloEPrix pic.twitter.com/cplSjR7r9Z

Cassidy flew through the field as expected and was already in second place with four laps to go. However, 2.5 seconds behind Rowland, his attack mode finally ran out. Then came the second Jaguar with four-wheel drive: Evans, like his team-mate before him, ploughed through the field and was already third a little later. Then came the bad news for Nissan: the leader Rowland also received a drive-through penalty for "power overuse" and dropped back to twelfth place! On lap 29, Evans took the lead from team-mate Cassidy! The length of the race was increased from 31 to 35 laps due to the safety car

Stroke for world champion Wehrlein

Suddenly, Felix da Costa made a surprise attack on Cassidy and passed him to take second place. Behind him, the two McLaren cars flew past in attack mode and with a considerable surplus of energy because they had been lapping the field for a long time. Then things got really wild: Wehrlein, Cassidy and Günther drove three cars side by side into the corner. Initially, there was contact between Cassidy and Günther, who slid into the right-hand wall. Cassidy possibly damaged his car in the process and was supposedly no longer able to steer properly.

In any case, he steered sideways into Wehrlein, who was driving to his left, in the following right-hand bend, which caused him to spin out. Wehrlein's Porsche took off, crashed into the safety fence, rolled over and finally came to rest on its "roof"! Race control immediately red-flagged the race. The most important thing: Wehrlein announced over the team radio that he was fine. A few minutes later, a crane turned the Porsche the right way up again so that Wehrlein could get out of the car with the help of security and be taken to the medical centre.

Final stage: Evans saves himself to the finish

At 19:47 (CET), the field returned to the track behind the safety car. At this point, there were still four laps to complete. The order of the top 5: Evans, Felix da Costa, Barnard, Bird and Mortara. This time there was a rolling start, with Evans setting the pace. The "Kiwi" defended his lead, but Felix da Costa was eager to attack in his rear-view mirror. The final laps were very exciting, but Evans spread out and defended skilfully.

On the final lap, Evans and Felix da Costa took a big risk and ran out of energy. But they just about made it to the finish. Mitch Evans thus won the season opener of the 2024/25 Formula E season from last place on the grid - his 13th success overall! Felix da Costa finished second and Taylor Barnard sensationally finished on the podium on his debut as a regular driver! "I just can't believe it," he radioed to his McLaren team. Barnard thus became the youngest podium finisher in Formula E history, replacing Daniel Abt, who finished third place at the 2015 Miami E-Prix.

The drivers' championship standings largely correspond to the race results. Among the teams, McLaren leads the field, two points ahead of Jaguar. Porsche and Mahindra follow in third and fourth place, while Jaguar leads the new manufacturers' championship by two points from Nissan. Porsche is also third here. Lola Yamaha was the only manufacturer not to score points in its Formula E debut.

The next Formula E race will take place in the new year on 11 January. The electric series will then visit Mexico for its second round of the season.

Results & times

Overall standings (drivers, teams & manufacturers)

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