Formula E: Da Costa takes his second victory of the season

One of the characteristic features of Formula E is the unpredictability of its results, as any driver representing one of the eleven teams can excel in this series. Or almost anyone.

And if Jake Hughes showed the fifth result during yesterday’s qualifying in Shanghai, he won pole on Sunday, which was observed quite organically against the background of other recent achievements of McLaren Racing drivers. For example, Oscar Piastri, after the results of qualifying in Monaco, will start from the front row in the Formula 1 race, and Alexander Rossi and Kyle Larson, pilots of Arrow McLaren, will start from the top five in the Indy 500, because this classic race will also take place today.

Qualifying at the Shanghai circuit took place on Sunday on a track that was barely dry due to the early morning rain, and in these conditions Hughes was able to secure his second pole position of the season. Let’s not forget that this was the first time in Misano, where, just like this weekend, the race did not take place on the city ring, but on a stationary circuit. For some reason it suits Jake and he beat DS Penske rider Stoffel Vandoorne by just 0.001 seconds in today’s final session. But still moving forward.

On the second row of the starting field in Shanghai were the electric cars of Antonio Felix da Costa’s Porsche and Nic de Vries’ Mahindra – both drivers can boast that they have already won titles in Formula E. By the way, just like Vandoorne. And from the third row stood representatives of the Jaguar factory team Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy, one of whom won the race yesterday, and the second was also on the podium, and today they clearly intended to fight for the victory.

Nick was in a particularly combative mood yesterday; due to circumstances he was unlucky and only showed the third result, although he could have won, so today he would probably win back.

But Stoffel Vandoorne came into the first corner first, made a better start than Hughes and led the race. However, in Formula E, especially at a circuit like Shanghai, this did not decide much, and there was no doubt that the order in the group of leaders would constantly change during the race.

Hughes was one of the first to use the powerful attack mode, for which he moved from the main track to a special sector, losing second position to da Costa. Norman Nato, an Andretti racer, also actively pushed his way forward, thanks in part to Attack mode. He started from seventh position, but on the fourth lap he led the race. Vandoorne was second, da Costa was third, Hughes was behind him and De Vries completed the top five. The Jaguar drivers stayed somewhat in the background for the time being, but Cassidy managed to stay ahead of Evans and at this stage of the race he was in 6th place.

With the first ten laps completed, the order of the leading group had changed: da Costa took the lead, Nato moved to second, Hughes to third, Vandoorne in fourth and Cassidy in fifth. But the Portuguese again activated the strong mode, and at that moment NATO returned to the lead.

On lap 12, Vandoorne accelerated sharply and passed Hughes on the straight before the first corner, moving up to third position. Around the same time, Pascal Wehrlein, who took 2nd place yesterday, left the pits to replace a blown tire. Today he was clearly unlucky, because he was of course the last to return to the track, almost 50 seconds behind the leader.

As the race crossed the equator, many of the competitors switched to more active actions, there were more overtaking attempts, in particular Jake Hughes stayed ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne and returned to the top three, and the race was led by Antonio Felix da Costa. , which managed to overtake the Norman NATO.

Soon Vandoorne was ahead of Cassidy and moved up to 4th position, and Hughes already started pushing. However, Jake was also actively attacking Norman Nato, and generally the cars of the first four were separated at minimal intervals, so as the finish line approached the fight would only intensify. Indeed, Hughes soon challenged NATO and on lap 20, after a duel that lasted several corners, he overtook the Frenchman. By the way, on one of the previous laps there was contact between Hughes’ McLaren and Cassidy’s Jaguar, which slightly damaged the front wing of the New Zealander’s electric racing car, but he continued to hold 4th position and chase NATO.

Five laps before the finish, da Costa was in the lead, Hughes was 0.5 seconds behind, but the team warned Jake that his car was beginning to overheat, although the situation had not yet gotten out of hand.

The director of the race broadcast showed a replay of the episode that took place in the depths of the peloton: Sam Bird’s McLaren and Nick de Vries’ Mahindra collided. The Briton had to return to the pits and retire, and Nick continued the race, although he lost many positions.

With three laps to go, Da Costa remained in the lead, with Hughes almost 0.7 seconds behind him and Nato almost a second behind the McLaren driver, and neither seemed likely to make any further attacks. There was an equal amount of energy in the batteries of their cars, and only Cassidy, who occupied the 4th position, had an extra charge, but his car was damaged and apparently this prevented him from using this trump card.

Ultimately, Porsche driver António Felix da Costa was the first to see the checkered flag and took his second victory of the season. Jake Hughes finished next, and so far this is his best result during his performances in Formula E. They were joined on the podium by Norman Nato, for whom this is also the first performance of the season – to the day Today the French Andrtetti driver was only 14th in the individual rankings, but today’s success allowed him to significantly improve his tournament position – now he is 11th.

And the leader in the championship after 12 races is still Nick Cassidy, especially today the New Zealand Jaguar driver finished 4th, while Pascal Wehrlein, who occupied 2nd place, did not score any points. Accordingly, Nick’s advantage increased to 25 points.

At the same time, Mitch Evans, who won the race yesterday and finished fifth today, climbed to 3rd place in the electric series according to the results of the weekend in Shanghai, and the points scored were enough to stay ahead of Oliver Rowland, the Nissan driver , although only one point difference.

The next stage of the season takes place the last weekend of June at the American Speedway in Portland.