Last-Lap Showdown - Sao Paulo E Prix

First Formula E Race win for the McLaren FE team and a last lap fight that makes you want to watch Formula E more

The Formula E season comes to Brazil after an unscheduled break of 6 weeks due to the cancellation of the Hyderabad E Prix which was slated to happen on February 10th. The Cancellation came after Formula E alleged that the new Telangana Government had breached the contract and the conditions set didn’t make it possible to hold the E-Prix
"The cancellation comes following a decision by the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department (MAUD), under the control of the Government of Telangana, not to fulfill the Host City Agreement signed on 30 October 2023," Formula E said in a statement.

But Formula E moved on after this break and arrived in Sao Paulo Brazil for an Electrifying E Prix.

As Formula E brought their theatrics to Sao Paulo for the second time, there was a lot of buzz for home heroes Lucas di Grassi and Sergio Sette Camara. A home race does bring a lot of pressure on a driver. Performing surgically on your home turf is a must for every athlete and racing drivers are no exception.

Season 3 champ Di Grassi states “I raced here in pretty much all the categories that I raced in my life from F1 to the World Endurance Championship, Stock cars, and now Formula E.” Lucas Di Grassi proudly states “I grew up here in Sao Paulo.”

“For me, a home race does bring pressure because you feel like since this is your home race, you should perform better” adds ERT’s Sette Camara.

A lot of pressure for the drivers but that’s what tests the limits of an individual. The crowd chants your name, expecting a world-class performance from you. At that point, even the best could fail. But not these men.

There seemed to be an atmosphere of seriousness around the garage of DS Penske driver and Season 8 world champion Stoffel Vandoorne. During their last time out in Sao Paulo, Vandoorne qualified on the Pole. To his disappointment, he lost places over the Race distance, finishing a measly fifth. He came to Brazil with a thought of Redemption.

Free Practice

New Zealander and Jaguar TCS driver Mitch Evans parked his car on the top of the timing sheets with a 1:12.555. Evans set a faster lap time than last year’s Pole time by two-tenths of a second. 

The entire Jaguar TCS team was delighted to see the other car Nick Cassidy alongside Mitch in P2. Mahindra’s Edoardo Mortara finished a sublime P3.  FP1 and FP2 showed us that other teams and drivers have got closer and better on track. Even though Jaguar TCS dominated last year, it felt that they got a good run for the top step this year.

Free Practice 2 proved to be evidence for the remarks made above. NEOM McLaren’s Sam Bird jolted on top with a time of 1:12.773s. The Brit took advantage of the red flag brought down by FP1 topper Mitch Evans.

Evans reported a mechanical issue which Team Principal James Barclay confirmed. The front driveshaft of the car was a bit dodgy which led to a red flag. The team quickly fixed the car but the session wasn’t resumed.

“The wheel keeps kicking back, I don’t know what it could be.”

~Mitch Evans (on radio)

The session concluded with Sam Bird leading with Stoffel Vandoorne and Oliver Rowland settling for P2 and P3.

Qualifying

The qualifying session began with the usual Group, Quarters, Semis, and Duels format. Qualifying saw familiar names on top of the time sheets with Pascal Wehrlein taking Pole in his Porsche. DS Penske had successful quali with drivers Stoffel Vandoorne and Jean-Eric Vergne sitting comfortably in P2 and P4. Vandoorne was just 0.002s away from the pole which is, to date, the closest margin in Formula E.

Maximilian Guenther set his Maserati to P3, his highest qualifying position this season but he was pushed back the field after he was handed two 20-place grid penalties for his replaced gearbox and inverter. Due to this, Mitch Evans got pushed up to P4 from P5, and Sam Bird got promoted to P5 from P6. 

The E-Prix

As the lights went out at 10:30 pm Pascal Wehrlein zoomed off the line creating a huge gap to the pack. Lap 1 saw Wehrlein take the lead with Vandoorne and Evans behind him. Antonio Felix Da Costa made big moves in the middle order, albeit in a rough manner.

Lap 7 saw the safety car coming out due to the Slippery track which handed the lead to Da Costa. The green flag was waved on lap 9 and due to the pack being bunched up, it helped Mitch Evans fly past and take the lead of the E-Prix.

On Lap 13, Nico Muller and his #51 ABT Cupra were given the Black and Orange flag. A 5-second time penalty was handed to Andretti’s Norman Nato for causing a collision. 

From here on, Jake Dennis eyed out an overtaking opportunity at Pascal who was now in fourth position. Alongside, position swaps were seen between Oliver Rowland, Stoffel Vandoorne, and Jean-Eric Vergne.

All this action was interrupted briefly by double-waved yellow flags and a full safety car due to an incident at turns 9 and 10. Nick Cassidy was out of the E-Prix. The previous safety car and the current one led to the addition of 2 extra laps of racing.

The safety car lasted until lap 20. With the dawn of lap 24, we could see a close fight between Buemi, Fennestraz, and home hero Lucas Di Grassi brewing up for 10th place. On Lap 25, it seemed that Sam Bird could finally have a shot at the win after their strategy calls seemed to fit right.

Lap 27 had Nico Muller out of the E-Prix at turn 1 causing a yellow flag. Evans takes over the lead as the green flag drops. The E-Prix was extended by 3 laps. This gave Bird more time to recover on Evans, drawing closer and shaving seconds off of Evans.

On the last lap of the E-Prix, Bird was right on Evans’ tail, trying to fight and overtake the Kiwi. On the last couple of corners, Bird gave it his all, threw the McLaren on the outside of Evans, and took the lead of the race right before the chequered flag fell.

Sam Bird secured his first win since 2021 and his first win for McLaren. Mitch Evans settled for second and Oliver Rowland finished up the Podium. Sebastien Buemi clocked in the fastest lap. Thus, concluding a spectacular Sao Paulo E-Prix.

A Tough one for Jehan, and what’s next

The E-Prix was very electrifying, especially during the last stages of the race. There were highs and lows throughout the race and this can be best described by our very own Jehan Daruvala, who started in 16th in his Maserati and recovered to 15th. Now that doesn’t seem like much but considering the pack shuffling during the safety cars, Jehan put in a monstrous effort to finish where he did. He said

“Today’s race wasn’t easy at all. It was my first experience of Formula E’s peloton style, and it wasn’t what I expected, but it was good to get some more laps under my belt and I feel like I learned a lot. After four races, I feel quite confident in the car, especially in qualifying. My goal now is to improve my long-run pace. If I can do that, I think we could be in with a shot at points in Tokyo, which will be a new circuit for everybody.”  

The Championship standings are close with the Top 7 within striking distance from the leader Nick Cassidy who leads the pack with 57 points, ahead of Wehrlein in P2 with 53 points and Mitch Evans in P3 with 39 points. Formula E has a habit of giving us surprising results and we have seen the tables shift a lot as the season progresses. Even in the Current season, we have seen 4 different drivers win the last 4 Races, What happens at the end of the season, we tightly hold on to this rollercoaster and wait.

Formula E now flies over to Asia for its next stop for the Inaugural Tokyo E Prix set to be held on 30th March 2024. Formula E had been trying to get to Tokyo for a Decade now, FE conducted its first demonstration run in 2016. Now eight years later the first ever international motorsport event on Tokyo’s streets will take place offering what has been described to The Race as “a spectacular challenge” with “exceptional backdrops of the city”.