Formula E: Wehrlein wins and returns to the lead

Pascal Wehrlein defeated Mitch Evans in the dispute for victory in the first race of the London Formula E final and took the lead in the individual standings. Thus, the battle for the title in the “Electric World Championship” has intensified extremely: before tomorrow’s race (which will still be preceded by qualifying, and bonus points will also be awarded for pole position), the Porsche works team driver is only three points ahead of the Jaguar Racing driver.

Before the double season finale, the personal ranking was led by Nick Cassidy, a fellow countryman and partner of New Zealander Evans, but Mitch and Wehrlein were the most likely and therefore his main rivals. They were tied on points, but Cassidy was only 12 points ahead.

Mitch won pole, for which he was awarded three points, and Nick only posted the 17th fastest time in qualifying, after which he was very angry, blaming the team for this. He also had a particularly bad run in Saturday’s race, and when he tried to make a comeback he collided with Jake Dennis, the reigning Formula E champion who was driving for Andretti.

Cassidy’s car was damaged, but that wasn’t the end of his Saturday troubles as he was involved in an incident with DS Penske driver Stoffel Vandoorne. Nevertheless, Nick managed to finish and even earn six points for 7th place.

At the same time, Wehrlein and Evans claimed victory today: Mitch started from pole and led in the opening laps, but then pulled ahead of Sebastien Buemi, who is driving for Envision Racing this season. But as has happened more than once during the championship, Wehrlein was helped by the fact that the advantages of the Porsche power unit – perhaps the most effective in Formula E at the moment – ​​are most evident over race distance.

Pascal managed to stay ahead of the other contenders for victory and climb to the top step of the podium for the third time this season, allowing him to return to the leaders of the individual standings, although his lead is only three points. Evans took second place, which he inherited from Max Günther, after the German Maserati suffered technical problems in the closing laps. In addition, Mitch managed to earn a bonus point for the fastest lap.

Buemi finished third, with Nyck de Vries fourth, his best result of the season on his return to Formula E with Mahindra. His team-mate, Edoardo Mortara, completed the top five.

The main contenders for the title to this day were both António Felix da Costa and Wehrlein, driving for Porsche, as the Portuguese had taken four victories in the previous five stages, but today he was unlucky: in the last corner he collided with Oliver Rowland, a Nissan driver. Rowland turned out to be the culprit of the incident, for which he received a 5-second time penalty and dropped to 15th place.

There were indeed quite a few incidents during the race, and after one of them, which took place on the first lap, Envision driver Robin Frijns even had to go to the hospital for a medical check-up.

There is only one race left, but seven still have a mathematical chance of winning, although it is clear that Wehrlein (180 points), Evans (177 points) and Cassidy (173 points) should be considered the main contenders. Overall, it will be interesting!