Jaguar’s Mitch Evans produced one of the best drives of his career to win the FIA Formula E season-opener in São Paulo, having started in last place.
After a technical issue truncated the Kiwi’s qualifying earlier in the morning, Evans stormed through the field and benefitted from two red flags to take P1. Antonio Felix da Costa finished second for Tag Heuer Porsche, with Taylor Barnard an amazing third place for NEOM McLaren.
Barnard and team-mate Sam Bird utilised extra energy after an early drive through penalty for the pair gave them an unexpected advantage on the restart, the latter finishing fourth.
Edoardo Mortara was fifth for Mahindra Racing, with team-mate Nyck de Vries sixth.
Envision’s Sebastien Buemi was seventh, with Dan Ticktum eighth for Cupra Kiro. DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne and Maserati’s Stoffel Vandoorne rounded-up the top 10.
The race also saw a huge accident involving Jaguar’s Nick Cassidy and Pascal Wehrlein, the German’s Porsche airborne and landing on its side, and against the wall.
After the heartache for Evans in London at the end of Season 10 in July, the season could not have started better for the man who is looking to become the bride, having been FE’s perennial bridesmaid four times.
How the race unfolded
There was drama before feet were put to the floor as Robin Frijns’ Envision was stranded on the grid and failed to get away, due to a brake system issue, delaying the start procedure.
When the race did eventually get underway, Wehrlein gave way to Nissan’s Oliver Rowland, who took the lead into turn one, with Max Günther sending his DS Penske past Andretti’s Jake Dennis into third. Evans quickly took de Vries and Lola’s Zane Maloney at the back of the field.
Dennis complained over team radio that he had front-right damage due to a touch with Günther – “Max being Max” – but remained in fourth at the end of the opening lap.
Evans was now up to 15th as Dennis fell behind da Costa, who also took Günther.
Last year’s winner Bird was up to 11th, and looking racey but the Safety Car was deployed after Nico Müller and Jake Hughes got together at turn five, the Andretti and Maserati intertwined together and both men firmly out.
Replays showed that in a bottleneck, both men took avoiding action from other cars, but ended up finding each other.
Racing resumed at the start of Lap 6, with Rowland holding his lead with Günther looking to take Wehrlein. Cassidy, Stoffel Vandoorne, Lucas di Grassi and Barnard all took Attack Mode for the first time, but di Grassi would stop out on track a matter of yards later.
At the start of Lap 7, drivers took evasive action to avoid strewn debris, with yellow flags out. Günther took second off Wehrlein, who by the end of the lap was now fifth, with Cassidy storming up into the lead at the start of Lap 8.
Vandoorne was looking incredibly lively in fifth, challenging da Costa, who held the Maserati off. Günther was the next of the leading drivers to take Attack Mode, with much of the midfield also opting to do the same.
Lap 10, and both Porsches took a two-minute Attack Mode together, as the stewards imposed drive-through penalties on Barnard, Bird and Nato for overpowering.
Dennis was now second ahead of Rowland with Cassidy still leading. Evans had stormed through to find himself in fourth, but on the start of Lap 13, Rowland took Dennis and Cassidy for the leader, with one percent more energy than the Jaguar.
Sebastien Buemi, still nursing a damaged front wing, took Vergne for fifth, with Maloney ninth ahead of da Costa on Attack Mode. Rowland took one of his Attack Modes and stayed just ahead of Cassidy.
Maloney’s race continued to improve, the Bajan now in fifth place with de Vries in sixth. Rowland now possessed a lead of over two seconds over Cassidy, who was fending off Dennis, with Evans rounding the pair of them for third. De Vries then took Dennis for fourth and Evans for third.
On Lap 18, Wehrlein took de Vries and Cassidy to go back up into second place, and then took Rowland for the lead, with da Costa bearing down on him also.
Da Costa stormed past his team-mate in Turn 1 to take the lead, with Rowland opting for his final Attack Mode, with Mortara now in third. Wehrlein was now back in the lead, and over the radio, da Costa was told to stay behind. The Portuguese disobeyed and went back into the lead into turn one on Lap 20.
Dennis’ race was over, his Andretti parked on the run-off area at turn one, his battery apparently disconnected. As the car was now deemed unsafe – a “red car” – the race was red flagged, with just 10 laps to go.
Cars returned to the track under the Safety Car on Lap 22, and due to the McLarens taking their drive-through penalties, both had 45 and 42 percent energy respectively, a good few percent higher than the other cars.
The Safety Car pulled in and the race resumed after a standing start from Lap 23. At lights out for the second time, Rowland repeated his first start and dived into the lead at turn one. Da Costa lost first and second, with Günther moving up.
Cassidy took Attack Mode, dropping two places to eighth, with the Kiro pair of Dan Ticktum and David Beckmann ninth and 10th.
Cassidy took team-mate Evans at the end of Lap 25, with Rowland placed under investigation for overpowering like all the other Nissan-powered cars earlier on in the race.
Cassidy would move ahead of Wehrlein for fourth on Lap 26, with Evans taking his Attack Mode, as his team-mate charged forth and moved ahead of da Costa. He would move up to second ahead of Günther.
Rowland had a buffer of nearly three seconds, but the threat of a penalty was still hanging over him. Bird and Barnard, with all their extra energy, moved to 10th and 11th. Evans was now third ahead of da Costa.
Rowland was told over team radio he was given a drive-through penalty, handing the lead to Cassidy and leaving the Jaguars one and two.
Evans was bearing down on Cassidy and took the lead into Turn 1, with four laps added. Bird and Barnard were now sixth and seventh.
With cars now aware energy was precious with the extra laps, the pack began to bunch up, with da Costa taking Cassidy for second and challenging Evans.
As cars jostled, Wehrlein, Cassidy and Günther touched, sending the Porsche on its side and perched against the wall at the exit of Turn 6. The huge crash brought out the red flag for the second time.
Replays showed that Günther went into the wall at Turn 5, and the touch seemingly left Cassidy with no steering, sending him into the path of Wehrlein on the outside, who then speared into the barrier, halo-first. All three men were out, but thankfully all OK.
Cassidy seemed to retire, hopping out of the car, but his mechanics performed a miracle job to fix the Jaguar and bring him back out, albeit having to start from the back. This promoted Barnard to start from third spot, with Bird fourth, the McLarens now on for the win for sure.
This time, the race would begin under a rolling start and taking off on Lap 32 of 35.
When the Safety Car pulled in, Evans bunched up the pack and launched away, with da Costa second and Barnard third, with Bird not far behind.
Barnard sensibly watched Evans and da Costa jostle, waiting for his moment. Lap 33 and Evans continued to stay ahead, with da Costa desperately looking for a way past. On the radio, Bird pleaded with Barnard to “go”, knowing his rookie team-mate could win.
The penultimate lap and Barnard continued to stay in third, with Evans and da Costa ahead, possessing an extra four percent.
The final lap began, and Evans continued to lead, with da Costa harrying him still, with Barnard unable to find a way through. Now on one percent, Evans stayed ahead, with Barnard still four percent ahead. Nobody could find a way past Evans, who took an astonishing last-to-first win, with da Costa second and Barnard a heroic third.
It might have taken a while to banish the ghosts of London, but Evans has plenty of reasons to smile with Season 11 underway.
READ MORE – Formula E: Pascal Wehrlein takes pole for São Paulo E-Prix
