diriyah e prix

Image courtesy of Formula E RIYADH STREET CIRCUIT, SAUDI ARABIA – JANUARY 28: Mitch Evans, Jaguar TCS Racing, Jaguar

Qualifying

This session started with Jake Hughes, Sebastian Buemi, Stoffel Vandoorne and Jake Dennis getting through from Group A. Both Nio cars of Dan Ticktum and Sergio Sette Camara got knocked out which came as a shock given their past history of qualifying. Pascal Wehrlein, Rene Rast, Eduardo Mortara and Mitch Evans went through from Group B.

Vandoorne and Buemi went head to head for the first quarter final with the reigning world champion being knocked out of the duels by Buemi.

It was Jake Hughes VS Jake Dennis for the second quarter final of the day with Hughes having the advantage over Dennis to win the battle.

Wehrlein and Rast went against each other for the third quarter final which saw Rast take a surprise victory over the German.

Mortara and Evans lined up for the final quarter final of the weekend with Evans just taking victory.

Buemi and Hughes had deja vu as they went head to head for the second time this weekend. However, Hughes got his revenge from yesterday with him getting victory over the world champion.

Evans and Rast went head to head for the final semi final of the weekend with Evans catching Rast after an early lead from the McLaren driver. Evans went through to the finals.

It was Hughes vs Evans for the final duel of the weekend with Hughes taking victory and taking his first pole in his third race of his Formula E career.

Jake Hughes gets his first Formula E Pole Position. Credit: Formula E.

Race

We went racing in Diriyah and Evans made the most of the situation. He overtook Hughes into turn 1 and maintained the lead throughout the early laps. By lap 9, Evans went for an early 3 minute attack mode. Hughes responded to this by taking attack mode on the next lap but only for 2 minutes. This risk did not pay off early on, however, as he came out behind Evans. Rast then goes for the attack and manages to stay ahead. Wehrlein went on a charge after starting P5 and got up to P3 by lap 12 with 3% more energy than his counterparts in the grid. It only took him until the next lap to get Evans for P2.

Further down the field, on lap 21, Dennis got Mortara as he also made a charge through the field. Things went from bad to worse for Mortara as Bird also got him. Within the next few laps, Dennis continued his charge as by lap 24, he gets up to P2 with him wanting to charge down Wehrlein. On lap 27, Muller hit the wall in the chicane and that brought out the safety car. It neutralised the race which helped the top few drivers. By lap 31, the safety car came in and the top 3 were pushing from that moment on. Lap 33 saw Dennis, Bird and Evans all go for attack mode but the McLarens got in between them. Bird was going to attack Rast but he went wide into turn 18 and Rast managed to keep P3. On the last lap, Evans and Hughes were both fighting but Hughes ran out of energy on the line. However, Evans pushed him and Buemi managed to overtake Evans due to Hughes holding him up.

Wehrlein took the win in Diriyah to make it a double header, double win. Dennis made it 2 for 2 for P2 in Saudi Arabia with Rast taking McLaren’s first podium in Formula E. Bird finished P4 ahead of Hughes and Buemi in P5 and P6. Evans finished P7 with Fenestraz taking their first points in Formula E. Mortara picked up Maserati’s first points of the season in P9 and Ticktum picked up the final points paying position in P10.

Qualifying

Qualifying for the first race in the Gen 3 era of Formula E in Saudi Arabia got off to a less-than-ideal start for Maserati as Maximilian Guenther crashed early on in the Group A session. He was uninjured after the collision with the barrier.

Ticktum and Rowland went head to head in the first quarter final with Ticktum taking the victory.

Di Grassi and Hughes went head to head for the second quarter final and Hughes taking the victory in that one.

It was Evans against Buemi in the third quarter final and Buemi took the victory.

Rast and Bird went head to head for the final quarter final with Rast losing out to Bird by 2 tenths.

In the first semi final, Hughes took victory over Ticktum which saw Hughes go through to the final.

The second semi final saw Buemi take victory over Bird by less than a tenth.

The final saw an epic battle from Buemi and Hughes. Buemi just took pole over Hughes.

Sebastian Buemi with his Pole Trophy in ahead of the Diriyah E-Prix.
Credit: Formula E

Race

Before the race began, it was announced that Sergio Sette Camara would have a 3 place penalty for impeding Pascal Wehrlein in qualifying.

Maximilian Guenther’s crash in qualifying resulted in him not starting the race.

The 39 lap event started with contact between Rowland and Da Costa which resulted in them both pitting early on. This led to the safety car being brought out for less than a lap. Evans hit Rene Rast on lap 1 turn 1 as well. It was a calm safety car restart but then Sam Bird got Jake Hughes who started in P2. However, Bird was not done yet. He then started to hunt Buemi down and he eventually got him.

Fast track to Lap 7 where Bird took the lead over from Buemi after his hunt. Onto lap 11, Evans tried to get past Rast but locked up and lost a few places as a result. Lap 15 saw Muller pit and eventually retire from the EPrix.

Lap 25 saw an epic battle between Pascal Wehrlein and Sam Bird. Wehrlein had more energy and an extra attack more compared to Bird. He managed to stay with him but going into turn 18, he locked up and lost the place he gained for a few seconds. Further down, Cassidy was trying to get past the Andretti of Jake Dennis but instead, Dennis and Cassidy got the McLaren of Jake Hughes when Hughes had to get his attack mode.

Enter the final stages of the race and Wehrlein was still on Sam Bird’s tail. Onto lap 30 and turn 18, Wehrlein gets past Bird and maintains it. Buemi had to get his last attack mode which put Dennis up into 3rd place after starting 11th.

Lap 33 comes around and Dennis was on a charge. Dennis takes Bird on lap 34 just as Wehrlein gets his second attack mode. Wehrlein came out just ahead of Dennis but it saw a battle to the end which saw Wehrlein take his second victory in Formula E.

Further down the field, Maserati’s last remaining car of Eduardo Mortara had to retire on lap 33. He joined Muller as the second retirement of the race. Muller’s teammate Kevin Van Der Linde only managed P16 on his debut for the injured Robin Frijns. Da Costa and Rowland also managed to make it to the end of the race but finishing in the bottom 2 positions due to their collisions on lap 1. Despite obtaining P4 in qualifying, Dan Ticktum dropped down to P14 by the end of the race with his teammate Sergio Sette Camara behind him in 15th.

Di Grassi, Nato and Vandoorne finished off the non points scorers with Evans Lotterer, Hughes, Vergne and Cassidy making up from P10 top 6 respectfully. Rene Rast for McLaren managed P5 with the fastest lap and Buemi finishing P4 to round off the non podium positions.

Wehrlein took the win ahead of Dennis in P2 and Bird in P3.

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