Formula E in Shanghai: Pascal Wehrlein wins rain-soaked Shanghai E-Prix ahead of Felix da Costa and Dennis

Porsche driver Pascal Wehrlein won Saturday’s Formula E race in Shanghai, ahead of Antonio Felix da Costa and Jake Dennis. The race was interrupted by a brief safety car period due to rain. Maximilian Günther finished the race in 9th place, whilst Nico Müller just missed out on the points, crossing the finish line in 11th place.

On Saturday afternoon local time, the first Shanghai E-Prix of the 2025/26 season got underway in Shanghai. In a thrilling qualifying session that morning, German driver Pascal Wehrlein had secured pole position ahead of Mitch Evans and Jake Dennis. This was the first race of the ‘double-header’ at the Shanghai International Circuit, featuring the ‘Pit Boost’ mid-race pit stop.

The race began with the 20 drivers performing burnouts before the race got underway. For Zane Maloney and Norman Nato, this meant they had to drive into their pits first to serve their penalties.

Jake Dennis, starting from second on the grid, was told by his team at the start that he was free to lead the field to avoid the chaos in the midfield. This was something his Andretti team-mate Felipe Drugovich felt the full force of straight away: the Brazilian made contact with Antonio Felix da Costa in the Jaguar. However, both were able to continue their races.

Antonio Felix da Costa had fought his way past Pascal Wehrlein, who was leading at the time, and was now leading the field. The two former Porsche team-mates were locked in a thrilling battle at the front of the field before Felix da Costa dropped back to third place behind Jake Dennis.

Pit Boost activations began

At the end of lap 14, the first drivers headed into the pits for their charging stop. Lucas di Grassi, Sebastien Buemi and Felipe Drugovich were the first to reach the charging station, followed by half the field. The other half of the drivers followed on the next lap.

Immediately after the pit stops, Edoardo Mortara was the first to utilise his extra power of the Attack Mode

Rain brought out the safety car

The safety car was deployed on lap 20 as the rain had increased. At that point, Cassidy, Ticktum and Marti still had almost their full allocation of Attack Mode minutes remaining. Mortara, too, still had over a minute left on the timer.

Dan Ticktum pitted under the safety car to change his tyres, aiming to achieve a more suitable tyre pressure for the wet conditions to avoid aquaplaning. He returned to the track in 19th place, having dropped back from 10th.

Once the safety car had come back in, all the remaining drivers activated their Attack Mode. At that point, pole-sitter Pascal Wehrlein was in the lead, followed by Felix da Costa and Mortara. The Swiss driver, however, was the only driver in the top eight without Attack Mode, which meant he was under considerable pressure from all the other drivers around him. Shortly afterwards, there was contact between Mortara and Jean-Eric Vergne, who was also dropping further and further back due to not having Attack Mode.

One lap was added to the race, but no one was able to steal the lead away from Wehrlein: the German secured victory in this first ‘double-header’ race in Shanghai. He shared the podium with Antonio Felix da Costa and Jake Dennis.

The top 10 was rounded off by Felipe Drugovich, Nyck de Vries, Jean-Eric Vergne, Joel Eriksson, Mitch Evans, Maximilian Günther and Edoardo Mortara.

Formula E action continues early on Sunday morning. The third free practice session is scheduled for 6.00 am local time (0.00 CEST), before the second race gets underway at midday.

Results, starting grid & lap times

Results & lap times

Championship standings (drivers, teams & manufacturers)