At the end of January, Saudi Arabia will host the second round of Formula E’s ninth season on the street circuit in Ad-Diriya. For the first time, the stage was doubled, with night races on Friday and Saturday.
In Friday’s qualifying final, Envision Racing’s Sébastien Bouemi beat McLaren’s Jake Hughes to take his first pole since 2019 – and a career-high 15th, surpassing Jean-Eric Vergne’s record – both making their 100th Formula E start today Jaguar’s Sam Bird and NIO’s Dan Tiktum took their place on the second row of the grid.
Max Günther crashed the car in qualifying, he himself was not injured, but the damage could not be repaired before the start. Sergio Sette Camara lost three places at the start because he blocked Pascal Wehrlein in a fast lap.
In the beginning the first four kept their positions. In the first corner there were several incidents, debris came out, yes Costa and Rowland were in the pits. The race was suspended and resumed almost immediately.
On lap 5, Bird passed Hughes for second, and on lap 8 took the lead and overtook Buemi.
On lap 10, di Grassi and Lauterer were ahead of Vergne, but Jean-Eric used attack mode and pulled back a position, only to be overtaken by Dennis, who also gained more power.
Rast made a mistake on the brakes – and missed Wehrlein, who climbed to 4th place. Evans attacked Rust, flying off the track, losing several places and receiving a five-second penalty for contact in the first corner. Fenestrasz hooked onto the wall and kept moving.
On lap 15, Müller returned to the pits and retired. Buemi overtook Hughes for second while Wehrlein moved into third.
On lap 22 Vergne overtook Tiktum for ninth and on lap 24 Wehrlein overtook Buemi for second.
On lap 26, Wehrlein attacked Bird for the lead, but he slowed, went off the line and was left behind.
Pascal actively pressured Sam – they were separated by a few tenths, but Bird defended skillfully until Wehrlein took the lead on lap 31.
On lap 34, Mortara pitted the car and retired.
On lap 35, Dennis passed Bird to move into second and attempted to attack Wehrlein for the lead. The battle went on until the last meters, but Pascal stayed ahead.
Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein started ninth and won the first race of the round in Saudi Arabia with his second win of his career. Andretti’s Jake Dennis was second, Sam Bird third.
On Saturday, the second race of the weekend will be held in Ad-Diriya.
Racing results
| Pilot | Order | Time | Difference |
| 1. P. Wehrlein | Porsche | 47’45.567 | – |
| 2.D Dennis | Andretti | 47’46.098 | 0.531 |
| 3. S. Vogel | Jaguar | 47’49.093 | 3,526 |
| 4. S. Buemi | Imagine | 47’51.615 | 6,048 |
| 5. R. Rast | McLaren | 47’53.038 | 7,471 |
| 6. N. Cassidy | Imagine | 47’53.181 | 7,614 |
| 7. J. Vergne | DS | 47’57.961 | 12,394 |
| 8.D Hughes | McLaren | 48’00.754 | 15,187 |
| 9. A. Loterer | Andretti | 48’01.130 | 15,563 |
| 10. M. Evans | Jaguar | 48’03.481 | 17,914 |
| 11. S. Vandorn | DS | 48’11.874 | 26,307 |
| 12. N. NATO | Nissan | 48’12.637 | 27,070 |
| 13. L. di Grassi | Mahindra | 48’14.366 | 28,799 |
| 14. D.Tiktum | NIO | 48’22.885 | 37,318 |
| 15. S. Sette Camara | NIO | 48’30.601 | 45,034 |
| 16. K. van der Linde | Mahindra | 48’45.702 | 1’00.135 |
| 17. S. Fenestrasz | Nissan | 48’55.114 | 1’09.547 |
| 18. Ada Costa | Porsche | 48’22.025 | + 1 circle |
| 19. O Rowland | Mahindra | 48’38.092 | + 1 circle |
| Meetings | |||
| E. Mortara | Maserati | 40’12.453 | |
| N. Muller | Mahindra | 17’25.216 | |
| M Gunther | Maserati | – did not start |
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
