Formula E

[Update] Robin Frijns in hospital! Formula E drivers rant against aggressive Jake Dennis in London

Svenja König

Svenja König
Robin-Frijns-hand-injury-London

After a collision in Saturday's Formula E race in London, Robin Frijns was taken to hospital. The Dutchman "only" suffered a bruise, so he will be able to start again on Sunday. The decisive factor in this collision was Jake Dennis, who clashed with several drivers during the course of the race, earning several penalties and, above all, the anger of his colleagues.

It was probably one of the shortest races of Robin Frijn's career: after just ten corners, he had already hit the wall with his car. Jake Dennis had tried to pass the Dutchman on the inside line of the chicane. However, he left him no room at all and sent him into the TecPro barrier with no alternative. Unfortunately for the Dutchman, he broke his steering.

The world feed showed Frijns trying to take his hands off the steering wheel early on to avoid the hand injuries that are notorious in Formula E. While the race was still going on, he was taken to hospital, as his team Envision Racing announced via Instagram. He was x-rayed there. This ruled out another broken bone, as he suffered a good one and a half years ago at the Mexico City E-Prix 2023. Frijns will therefore be able to start in the finale on Sunday.

"He was very lucky and we are very relieved," said team principal Sylvain Filippi in an interview during the third free practice session. "He was x-rayed last night and has no broken bones or anything like that. Just a swelling that is now going down. He was in a really good mood this morning and was keen to drive."

Accident also ruins Bird's chances of success

Dennis' action, for which he received a 10-second time penalty, not only ended Frijns' race. Sam Bird in the McLaren was unable to avoid the lurching Envision and also crashed into it. As the track was blocked for him, Bird also dropped to the back of the field.

"There was an incident between Jake and Robin," he describes the scene without judgement at e-Formel.de. "Robin came across the track and I had nowhere else to go. I had to park next to him and let everyone past," says Bird, but something else is even more important to him: "I hope Robin is okay, because I know what it's like to suffer a hand injury for the second time."

Dennis is relatively unemotional about the scene with Frijns:"We only made a small contact with robin and with obviously some big results for him," he tells e-Formel.de. "There was no actual contact with Robin. I just couldn’t quite get round T11."

"What an idiot!" - Vergne & Cassidy rant against Dennis

During the race, Dennis next clashed with Jean-Eric Vergne. The Briton wanted to pass the Frenchman on the inside of turn 16. He created the space for himself by driving into the DS driver. "What an idiot!" an angry Vergne radioed shortly after the incident. "'Crazy' is probably an appropriate word to explain it," Vergne told e-Formel.de. "I have some very harsh words in my head, but I'd better keep them to myself. Some drivers just drive very dirty."

Then world championship aspirant Nick Cassidy also had to take his place: the two battled with each other over several laps with multiple paint exchanges until Dennis used Cassidy as a brake pad in turn 1 to take eleventh place. "He just drove into me," Cassidy grumbled on the team radio. "Please report this to the race director!" After the race, he explained to the e-Formel.de microphone: "I basically had two big challenges today - one of them was Jake. That's how it is in motorsport sometimes - super frustrating."

Dennis: "There are a lot of drivers with multiple penalties"

At this point, race control had already handed Dennis a 15-second penalty for the accident with Vergne, so a good result seemed out of reach for the Briton. The incident with Cassidy added another five seconds. With his aggressive driving style, Dennis finished the race in 4th place, but was demoted to 16th place thanks to the time penalties. Like Oliver Rowland, Jean-Eric Vergne and Antonio Felix da Costa, he is therefore out of the title race.

Dennis showed no remorse after the race - despite the harsh criticism from his fellow drivers and Frijns' alleged hand injury. "There were only three collisions on my side, and there are many drivers with multiple penalties," Dennis relativised. The reigning world champion will certainly not have made many friends on Saturday in London.

Additional reporting by Timo Pape & Tobias Wirtz

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