"Lost it in the middle of the race" - Porsche first misses out on a chance of victory in Sao Paulo, then a podium finish

Three Porsche in the top six - it was not a bad Sao Paulo E-Prix for the German Formula E manufacturer in the former Jaguar land. Nevertheless, more could have been possible for Pascal Wehrlein and Co. who missed the chance of a top result relatively early on in the race.

For a long time, things looked outstanding for Porsche in Sao Paulo: Pascal Wehrlein - who started from pole position - led the race, and team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa had already worked his way up to second place on the third lap. However, it was also clear that Porsche would probably consume too much energy without a slipstream from the competition.

So Wehrlein and Felix da Costa dropped back a little, also due to their attack mode activations. Sam Bird and Mitch Evans overtook them - and ultimately stayed ahead of the Porsche drivers until the chequered flag. "We failed to push further forward in the middle of the race," admits Wehrlein, who finished the race in fourth place.

"After the safety car phases, it was even more difficult to overtake," recalls the German. "That's when I lost a potential podium finish. More was possible for us today. But we just didn't make the most of our opportunities."

Dennis: "Could have been better than fifth"

Wehrlein must have been particularly annoyed by the last corner of the final lap: his fierce duel with colleague Jake Dennis caused him to ignore the onrushing Oliver Rowland, who snatched the podium away from him in the final metres.

Dennis also fell victim to this surprise attack and only finished fifth instead of taking home a potential trophy. "We've closed the gap on the championship leader," said the man in fifth place overall.

"That's nice, but after leading the race with around 15 laps to go, we felt we could perhaps have done a bit better than fifth," said Dennis.

Felix da Costa back on track

The third-best Porsche also lost ground in the closing stages: Felix da Costa in the second works Porsche ultimately finished sixth. At least it was the first points for the Portuguese driver, even though he had hoped for more in Sao Paulo.

"To be honest, I'm a bit disappointed with the outcome of the race. A podium was possible for us today," says Felix da Costa. "In the final phase, we didn't seem to have got everything one hundred per cent right. In the race, we had the pace of the fastest drivers, and that's something we can build on."

Porsche team principal Florian Modlinger summarised the E-Prix in a similar way: "In the first part of the race, we quickly had both cars in the top four, but when overtaking became increasingly difficult due to the safety car phases, we were unfortunately not on hand."

However, Porsche had the biggest weakness in Diriyah - qualifying - much better under control in Brazil. "Pascal showed a very strong qualifying performance and was rewarded with his second pole of the season," said Modlinger. "Nevertheless, we can't be completely satisfied because we could have done much better today."