Jaguar’s Mitch Evans and Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa emerged as the big winners at Formula E’s first outing in Shanghai. Mahindra also showed promising pace during the weekend, with Nyck de Vries collecting some valuable points for the Indian team.
- Evans won Round 11, ahead of Wehrlein and Cassidy
- Da Costa won Round 12, ahead of Hughes and Nato
- Cassidy leads championship by 25 points
Evans wins Round 11
Starting from third on the grid, Evans initially took the lead on Lap 7, but was overtaken by Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein at the halfway stage. Both Porsche drivers, Wehrlein and da Costa, ran in tandem to keep Evans at bay.
However, Jaguar had an energy advantage in the closing stages, allowing Evans to move up to P2, while his teammate Nick Cassidy climbed from P10 to P3. Evans made the race-winning move on Wehrlein around the outside of Turn 1 on the very last lap and held steady till the chequered flag.
Wehrlein was able to defend second place from Cassidy, who in turn had to fend off a late charge from Nissan’s Oliver Rowland as well.
Da Costa wins Round 12
Da Costa won the next race in commanding fashion. From third on the grid, he passed polesitter Jake Hughes for second place on Lap 2.
The Porsche driver then expertly managed his energy and had enough of an advantage to overtake Andretti’s Norman Nato for the lead on Lap 16. Da Costa remained untroubled for the rest of the race and went on to secure his second win this season.
Hughes finished second, securing his maiden Formula E podium finish. Nato rounded out the podium, ahead of Cassidy.
More points for Mahindra
After scoring their first points of the season in Berlin, Mahindra continued to show improved form in Shanghai. Nyck de Vries more or less kept pace with the leading pack in Round 11. Despite having less usable energy than his nearest rivals, he took the chequered flag in P7. De Vries was running even higher in Round 12, but he was taken out by Sam Bird into the final chicane.
“If you look at the weekend as a whole, it’s clear we continue to be on the right path and are progressing,” said de Vries. “We’ve executed two races very well from a strategy perspective, scored our first points of the season in one of them, and put in an improved qualifying performance by making the Semi Finals today. Of course, we would always like to have more, but there are plenty of positives we have to take into the remaining rounds in Portland and London.”
Edoardo Mortara walked away from Shanghai with no points scored; contact from another car in Round 11 broke his car's suspension, taking him out of the race. In Round 12, he got within touching distance of the top 10, but ran out of laps and had to settle for P13 – a gain of eight places.
After two difficult qualifying sessions, Maserati’s Jehan Daruvala could only manage finishing P19 and P17 in the two races.
2024 Formula E championship standings
With four more rounds to go, Cassidy leads the standings by 25 points from Wehrlein. Evans is third overall and 10 points behind Wehrlein.
Formula E will now take a lengthy 5-week hiatus, with the next round being the Portland E-Prix double-header on June 29-30.
Shanghai E-Prix, Round 11 results
Shanghai E-Prix, Round 12 results
