2023 London E-Prix Race Review (Round 15)

Superb Mitch Evans wins as Jake Dennis becomes a World Champion in London

A brilliant drive from Mitch Evans saw him take his 4th win of the season, but it wasn’t enough as Jake Dennis was crowned as the new ABB FIA Formula E World Champion! Sebastian Buemi rounded out the Podium in what has to be the craziest FE race I’ve ever seen.

The Most Notable Moments

Nick Cassidy got a great start from Pole, but the same could not be said for P2 man Jake Dennis who dropped behind Cassidy’s Envision teammate Sebastian Buemi. This was a massive advantage for Nick as Seb was able to hold up Jake enough to allow Cassidy to take his first Attack Mode and stay in the lead of the London E-Prix. Disaster then struck for Dennis as he failed to activate his first Attack Mode whilst Nick Cassidy had all of a sudden dropped down to P3. This prompted Dennis to pull off a brilliant overtake on his main Championship rival which also allowed Rene Rast to clear both men. Envision then pulled off a bit of a tag team manoeuvre as Buemi backed off Dennis which allowed Cassidy to leap his rival. However, Cassidy didn’t clear his teammate and that cost him as the two Envision’s collided which resulted in Cassidy’s race and Championship dreams ending. I still can’t believe Envision didn’t tell Seb to let Nick through.

The Safety Car was then brought out due to bits of bodywork (from Cassidy’s car) on the track and when we got back underway, Mitch Evans led from Sebastian Buemi, Rene Rast, Pascal Wehrlein, and Jake Dennis who’d now dropped to 5th. Dennis then failed to activate Attack Mode again and you could tell that the pressure was well on the Brit’s shoulders. On Lap 28, a second Safety Car of the afternoon was called out after Nissan’s Sacha Fenestraz went flying into the barrier after colliding with NIO 333’s Sergio Sette Camara. Just before the Safety Car was called out at Turn 1, Rene Rast completely took out Pascal Wehrlein, running both men’s afternoons which also summed up Pascal’s season nicely. Rast, who’d picked up damage from the collision, pulled off to the side of the track just seconds before a Red Flag was brought out. This meant that Rast had to start from the back at the restart which was disastrous for him.

The race then got back underway with 5 Laps to go, but it got very odd when Sebastian Buemi entered his second Attack Mode and seemed to have no pace whatsoever. In frustration at Buemi’s lack of pace, Norman Nato sent one up the inside into the penultimate corner which didn’t work out and resulted in a literal car park that you would see in an F1 game. Another Red Flag was called and the only 3 drivers to avoid the melee were Mitch Evans, Antonio Felix da Costa, and Jake Dennis (who knew 3rd would be enough to clinch the title). We then got a 3-Lap sprint to the end which saw Mitch Evans take the victory whilst Jake Dennis was promoted to P2 and sealed the Championship in the process due to Antonio Felix da Costa suffering a 3-minute penalty for a technical infringement (heart-breaking for the Portuguese).

Drivers who Impressed

Whilst the plaudits will rightly go to Jake Dennis for securing the Championship, we have to give massive props to Mitch Evans who drove a super race to take victory at the ExCeL Centre. Speaking of Jake Dennis, what a brilliant, brilliant season the Avalanche Andretti driver has had and he fully deserves to be a World Champion. Sergio Sette Camara had a great race to go from 19th to 5th and the same can very much be said for Lucas di Grassi who avoided the carnage and gained 13 places in the process. Pascal Wehrlein also did well, particually considering he probably would’ve been on the Podium if he wasn’t completely whipped out whilst Antonio Felix da Costa drove an unbelievable race to get up to P2 (that’s only half the story though).

Drivers who Struggled

Antonio Felix da Costa was on for a brilliant Podium until a technical infringement saw him drop all the way from 2nd down to 17th in what was another disaster for Porsche. Rene Rast was on for a good result before he completely punted his fellow German Pascal Wehrlein into the wall whilst Nick Cassidy, who didn’t necessarily do anything wrong, still had a bad day when it comes to the Championship. ABT CUPRA will also be disappointed with a double DNF because these are the types of races that Robin Frijns and Nico Muller need to be taking advantage of.

Overall Race Results

1. Mitch Evans

2. Jake Dennis: +1.116

3. Sebastien Buemi: +1.668

4. Sam Bird: +3.054

5. Sergio Sette Camara: +3.782

6. Edoardo Mortara: +4.263

7. Lucas di Grassi: +4.769

8. Dan Ticktum: +5.118

9. Norman Nato: +7.527

10. Pascal Wehrlein: +8.725 (FL)

11. Jake Hughes: +9.128

12. Stoffel Vandoorne: +10.231

13. Maximilian Gunther: +10.568

14. Andre Lotterer: +11.094

15. Rene Rast: +11.789

16. Roberto Merhi: +23.472

17. Antonio Felix da Costa: +3:00.666

18. Sacha Fenestraz: DNF

19. Nick Cassidy: DNF

20. Nico Muller: DNF

21. Jean-Eric Vergne: DNF

22. Robin Frijns: DNF

Drivers’ Standings:

1. Jake Dennis: 213pts

2. Mitch Evans: 179pts

3. Nick Cassidy: 171pts

4. Pascal Wehrlein: 148pts

5. Jean-Eric Vergne: 107pts

Teams’ Standings:

1. Jaguar TCS Racing: 268pts

2. Envision Racing: 268pts

3. TAG Heuer Porsche: 241pts

4. Avalanche Andretti: 236pts

5. DS Penske: 153pts