"I got the chance and took it" - Mexico Formula E winner Rowland and the fine line between luck & bad luck
Timo Pape
Oliver Rowland was already in contention for victory in Sao Paulo, but was handed a penalty as a result of a technical offence. The Nissan driver's luck returned at the Formula E race in Mexico: a late - and not too long - safety car period gave him the chance to attack shortly before the end of the race and he made brilliant use of it to win. After the E-Prix, the Brit was unusually emotional.
"I've been coming to Mexico for a while now, but I've never had any luck. I always wanted to stand here, in this stadium, with these fantastic fans - I'm just super happy. Something like this only happens once in a lifetime, maybe twice at most. Winning in Formula E, and then in front of this crowd, is something I've dreamed of ever since I started driving in Formula E. This is emotional", said the Nissan driver shortly after the end of the race.
His words were preceded by an E-Prix that did not go so smoothly for Rowland at first. "My balance was good, but I had a few difficulties with efficiency from lap 10 onwards. We were solid in qualifying and in the race we were there to pick up the pieces - with a bit of luck."
At first, however, it looked more like repeated bad luck: Rowland had just activated his second Attack Mode with six minutes remaining when the accident between Mitch Evans and Nico Müller caused a second safety car period. His valuable time with four-wheel drive was slipping through his fingers. "I just thought: Oh no, not the same again as in Sao Paulo!"
3 strong overtakes in one lap: "I put everything into it"
But things turned out differently this time, as the safety car left the track again after only a short time. "In the end, I still had 70, 80 seconds (of Attack Mode) left, so I decided to give it a go," Rowland looks back. This was followed by a fabulous lap from the 32-year-old.
On the start-finish straight, he initially pushed past Jake Dennis. He then overtook Pascal Wehrlein and finally the race leader, Antonio Felix da Costa, at the entrance to the stadium. "Oliver was quite decisive! I defended hard and I don't think there was too much space left", says Felix da Costa with a grin on his face. "But it's always nice to fight hard and fair against each other."
This was SPECIAL 🤌
- Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) January 11, 2025
An incredible battle and move to the front from @OliverRowland1 set him up for a P1 finish at the @Hankook_Sport #MexicoCityEPrix. pic.twitter.com/JOaYdU61MW
Rowland himself is also proud of his three overtakes to take the win, but at the same time puts it into perspective: "I put everything into it and managed to get past them in half a lap. But it was perhaps also a little easier (than under normal circumstances) because we no longer had to worry about energy. I could just go full throttle in the three corners, so I did that."
"Had a bit of luck too, but..."
But he doesn't want to talk about a lucky win. "I did have a bit of luck (with the safety car), but I also lost almost six minutes in Attack Mode. The opposite was the case in Sao Paulo: I was very unlucky when I had a good race because we had this technical problem."
"Nevertheless, I think it would have been difficult to win without the safety car because I was struggling with efficiency," admits Rowland. "If I had overtaken them (without the second safety car period), I probably would have used too much energy and struggled to stay in front - my gut feeling."
"My strategy would probably have been to catch up with the two (Porsche drivers) and secure the podium. But when I got the chance, I took it."
WHAT A RACE 😰@oliverrowland1 clinches @NISMO's first WIN in Mexico 🇲🇽@Hankook_Sport #MexicoCityEPrix pic.twitter.com/YmcMknzad9
— Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) January 11, 2025
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