São Paulo ePrix: Starting last, Mitch Evans wins after a crazy race

It’s time for Formula E again! A little over four months after Pascal Wehrlein’s victory last season, the new Gen3 Evo single-seaters met in São Paulo for the first ePrix of season 11.

And it was precisely the German driver who achieved the first pole position of the season ahead of Oliver Rowland and Jake Dennis. However, nothing was going to happen as planned. Before the single-seaters leave their grid slots, Robin Frijns reports a brake issue on his Envision and has to give up. The start is thus delayed by a few minutes.

Departure got off to a very eventful start as, right at the third corner, rookie David Beckmann collided with Nico Müller, who in turn sent Jake Hughes into the wall. The Swiss’s Andretti and the British’s Maserati are left stranded, and the safety car comes out onto the track.

At the time of the restart, the two Porsches of the title champion and his teammate Antonio Felix da Costa are in the lead and the race unfolds without incident until the 21st lap. At this moment, the Andretti team sees their other single-seater, that of Jake Dennis, come to a stop in the chicane of the first turn. The race is interrupted for more than twenty minutes. Heavy and therefore dangerous to handle, the car of the season 9 champion takes time to be removed.

The race resumes with a standing start. By activating their Attack Mode before this interruption, several drivers were caught out, such as Jean-Eric Vergne or Oliver Rowland, while others took advantage of it like the two Jaguar drivers and the two McLaren drivers.

There are five laps left to race, yet a second red flag is waved after a few meters. At the exit of the first chicane, Nick Cassidy first sends Maximilian Günther’s DS Penske into the wall on his right, then flips Wehrlein’s Porsche onto its roof on his left. The German driver escapes unscathed after a big scare.

This time, it’s via a rolling start that the race is restarted with four laps added after the various interruptions. Coming back from the last position on the grid, Mitch Evans leads the pack ahead of da Costa and the two McLarens. Despite having less energy remaining than his opponents, the New Zealander wins the 13th race of his Formula E career and takes the lead in the championship.

On the French side, Jean-Eric Vergne finishes 9th while Norman Nato, although he crossed the line in 6th position, was penalized for being incorrectly positioned on the grid. Finally, it’s worth mentioning the fantastic performances of the two McLarens, with Taylor Barnard achieving his first career podium, and the two Mahindras finishing 5th and 6th.

São Paulo ePrix Ranking

Drivers’ championship standings

Team championship ranking