Formula E

Formula E Qualifying in Sao Paulo: Wehrlein fastest, but with a penalty - Dennis starts from P1

Jasmin Fromm
12/06/2025 · 02:50 pm

Porsche driver Pascal Wehrlein won the qualifying final at the season opener in Sao Paulo, but lost pole position to Jake Dennis due to a penalty for spinning wheels in the pit lane. Dan Ticktum starts next to him from row 1 ahead of Edoardo Mortara and Wehrlein. World champion Oliver Rowland, on the other hand, only achieved grid position 13.

Group A: Felix da Costa tops group in first qualifying for new team

In warm temperatures of 26°C, the two Brits Jake Dennis and Oliver Rowland, the two Swiss drivers Edoardo Mortara and Nico Müller, as well as Pepe Marti, Maximilian Günther, Antonio Felix da Costa, Zane Maloney, Jean-Eric Vergne and Formula E newcomer Joel Eriksson took to the grid.

The session started on time at 9.40am local time. All the drivers went out straight away to warm up the tyres. The first faster laps followed after around four minutes, with Maloney leading the way with a lap time of 1:17.326 minutes. He held the top spot for several minutes until he was replaced by Jake Dennis in the Andretti and Antonio Felix Da Costa in the Jaguar.

Meanwhile, Maloney was in the pits with a drive shaft defect. The driver from Barbados dropped back to 10th place in the group: he did not make it any further. Felix da Costa, Vergne, Mortara and Dennis, on the other hand, continued into the group stage.

Group B: Nato surprises with fastest time

In Group B, it was then down to the two New Zealanders Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy, the two Brazilian local heroes Lucas di Grassi and Felipe Drugovich, as well as Sebastien Buemi, Nyck de Vries, Norman Nato, Dan Ticktum, Taylor Barnard and Pascal Wehrlein to make it through to the duel stage.

Sebastian Buemi in the Envision was the first to lead the field with a time of 1:24.110 minutes, but was then quickly knocked off the top spot by rookie Felipe Drugovich. The latter managed a lap time 3.7 seconds faster, but then brought out a red flag. The Brazilian came to a stop in turn 4. He steered too early into turn 3 and had damaged the front right suspension. As Drugovich caused a red flag, his fastest lap was cancelled.

The incident that brought out the red flag 😫

Heartbreak for Drugovich @googlecloud #SãoPauloEPrix https://t.co/56Gyak6QCi pic.twitter.com/w3cs1t3YRH
- Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) December 6, 2025

Di Grassi was also unable to continue after rejoining the group. His problem was also a drive shaft defect. He was very annoyed with his team. Norman Nato secured his place in Group B as the fastest driver with a time of 1:12.308 minutes. Wehrlein, de Vries and Ticktum also made it further into the duel phase.

Overview: Formula E qualifying in Sao Paulo

Quarter-final

VF1: Mortara vs Vergne

This was followed by a duel that had only taken place once before in Berlin 2024. Back then, Mortara won the semi-final.

This trend continued here: Mortara started his lap first in Sao Paulo and managed to stay in front and win the duel strongly in his favour.

VF2: Dennis vs. Felix da Costa

The following duel had already taken place twice in the Gen3 era, both times last season and in the quarter-finals. Dennis won in Miami and Felix da Costa won in Mexico.

It was a very close duel: Felix da Costa stayed in front for a long time, but made a mistake at the end, which allowed Dennis to overtake him.

VF3: de Vries vs Wehrlein

Wehrlein versus de Vries had only taken place in the quarter-finals of Shanghai 2025. Wehrlein won then, the picture was the same this time: Wehrlein was strong from start to finish of the duel and clearly secured his progress.

VF4: Nato vs Ticktum

Frenchman Norman Nato and Englishman Dan Ticktum fought a very close battle, but the Cupra Kiro driver Ticktum beat Nato's lap time by 0.2 seconds.

Semi-final

HF1: Mortara vs Dennis

Englishman Dennis and Swiss driver Mortara fought in a very close duel. The two were separated by 29 thousandths of a second, with Dennis securing his ticket to the final shortly before the end.

HF2: Ticktum vs Wehrlein

The two Porsche-powered drivers fought an incredibly close duel. In the end, the two drivers were separated by just 7.5 hundredths of a second. Wehrlein therefore made it through to the final.

Final: Wehrlein vs Dennis

The final started in a somewhat subdued mood: Wehrlein was demoted three places on the grid for spinning his wheels in the pit lane. This meant that Dennis had already secured grid position 1 before the duel. Wehrlein still managed to dominate the battle: he completed the lap three tenths of a second faster than Dennis - pole position and three points for the German.

The first race of the 2025/26 Formula E World Championship takes place this evening at 18:05 (CET). German TV channel DF1 will broadcast the Sao Paulo E-Prix live on free-to-air TV and via livestream. e-Formel.de will follow the race as usual in the Formel E live ticker - ideal as a "second screen" for real fans!