Formula E

Setback for World Championship favourites in Sanya: Evans, Mortara, Rowland & Wehrlein fail to score any points

Tobias Wirtz

Tobias Wirtz

FIA Formula E

Despite very different starting positions, the chaotic Sanya E-Prix ultimately had no bearing on the outcome of the Formula E Drivers’ Championship. None of the four championship leaders managed to take even a single championship point at the season's final single-header of the season. However, the individual reasons could hardly be more different.

Evans: "A day of missed opportunity"

Championship leader Mitch Evans had secured the best starting position of all the top drivers with third on the grid. Having held back somewhat in the first half of the race, he was looking to capitalise on his energy advantage. However, it was not to be: first, Dan Ticktum crashed into the rear of his car; shortly afterwards, on lap 19, he became wedged with Zane Maloney whilst attempting to overtake in the hairpin bend, triggering a race interruption. Here, the Jaguar mechanics repaired the damaged rear suspension on Evans' car and changed the rear tyres, which had also been damaged in the crash with Ticktum.

However, when the New Zealander was about to head out for the restart, the FIA vetoed the move: the rear wing on the Jaguar also had to be replaced. Although the mechanics managed this in record time, Evans missed the restart and found himself trailing the field, a lap down. On the final lap, he finally retired from the race and drove into the pit lane.

"Today was a day of missed opportunity," said Evans after the race. "We qualified well and I had a strong start to the race before I was hit from behind. The red flag gave the team an opportunity to fix the damage and they did an amazing job getting it ready for the restart, but starting from the pit lane put me a lap down. We put ourselves in a position to fight for the win, had six minutes of Attack Mode left and we were good on energy so this does hurt. We'll come back fighting in Shanghai."

Mortara: "We proved again that we're competitive"

Edoardo Mortara had only managed to qualify in the midfield after strong performances in free practice. Starting from 11th on the grid, the Swiss driver had even taken the lead shortly before the halfway point of the race using Attack Mode, but damaged his front wing during one of the countless battles.

The Mahindra team also used the race interruption to carry out repairs and fit a new front wing, which meant Mortara had to drop to the back of the field. However, his race was very short-lived after the restart: a piece of debris struck the emergency stop switch on the Mahindra car, triggering the fire extinguisher and causing the car to shut down completely.

"It was looking quite good after Free Practice, and then things moved in the wrong direction in qualifying and in the race," said Mortara. "Qualifying didn’t go our way for whatever reason, and we started in the middle of the pack. Unfortunately, we had contact which damaged our front wing, and the race ended with a technical issue with the extinguisher, which went off by itself. It wasn't the luckiest day, but we proved again that when we get the car in the right window, we're quite competitive."

Rowland: "I'm mad at myself about that"

Oliver Rowland, third in the Drivers’ Championship, on the other hand, looked like a sure bet for a top finish for much of the race. The Briton had saved a lot of energy in the first half of the race and, after the restart, used his Attack Mode to jump to the front. He even led the race for a while in the closing stages, but lost his energy advantage in the process.

With three laps to go, however, the reigning world champion overplayed his hand in the battle for fourth place whilst attacking Pascal Wehrlein: he braked too hard into Turn 4 and skidded straight into the TecPro barrier. That was the end of the race for Rowland.

"Qualifying was disappointing and it was hard to find the pace, which has been something I’ve struggled with this season, but we managed to put ourselves in a good position in the race," explained Rowland after the race. “We got the strategy right, I maybe overconsumed on the restart a bit too much which left me low on energy, but we were still in a good place. Unfortunately, a mistake from my side meant I hit the wall, ending our race early. I'm mad at myself about that, but we will have to continue working and learn what we can from today ahead of the double-header in Shanghai."

Wehrlein: "I gave it everything, but it didn't work out"

Pascal Wehrlein, on the other hand, had already shown in free practice that he was extremely quick over a single lap in Sanya. However, a driving error whilst battling with Jake Dennis dashed his hopes of another pole position early on, meaning the German had to start the race from seventh on the grid. During the race, Wehrlein was consistently among the leading group and was the only driver to have saved six minutes of Attack Mode for the final stages.

After the restart, however, he collided with Norman Nato, and the race stewards subsequently imposed a five-second time penalty on the Porsche driver. As the entire field was bunched up very tightly, Wehrlein lost eight positions as a result of this time penalty and was classified in 14th place.

"It looked very promising until the red flag," said Wehrlein after the race. "We were in a great position, probably on course for at least a podium, maybe even the win, but then everything fell apart after the restart. An incident with contact and the resulting penalty made things a bit messy and unfortunate. I feel like I gave everything today and pushed really hard to maximise the result, but it didn’t work out. Now we focus on the final six races, knowing that the car and the pace were strong after a promising weekend."

The standings in the Formula E World Championship drivers’ championship therefore remain unchanged following the Sanya E-Prix. Whilst the top four were unable to score any points, Jake Dennis, Antonio Felix da Costa and Nico Müller, in fifth to seventh places, reduced the gap to the championship leaders.

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