Pascal Wehrlein leads the FE championship tied on points with Jake Dennis after being the first double race winner of 2024
Formula E once again became the least predictable championship in the single seater world as 7 races into the 2024 season, we have seen 6 different race winners. Pascal Wehrlein broke that duck in the 2nd race in Misano becoming not just the first driver to win 2 races in 2024, but the championship leader.
It could have been Oliver Rowland doing the double as he won race 1 following Antonio Felix Da Costa’s disqualification from the race win, but a technical malfunction led to an energy miscalculation meaning he would pull up on a dramatic final lap in the lead ending his hard fought podium streak.
As for the driver who finished 2nd in both races, Jake Dennis is displaying a strong period of form since the second Diriyah race. He has 3 podiums in a row and a 5th place in Brazil to his credit and is in the joint lead of the championship, losing on countback to double race winner Wehrlein.
Wehrlein stamps authority on Cassidy title dominance
We all know Pascal Wehrlein is a quick driver, but he has not won a meaningful title since his DTM championship win in 2015. In 2024, that could be due to change.
A pointless finish after contact in the first Misano race brought an end to a 15 consecutive points streak, and probably all sorts of negative mentality. However, a calm composed drive on Sunday made it clear to Porsche and us that the German is a tough competitor and when its his day, he is nearly unbeatable.
Whilst he was lucky, motorsport championship wins require a little bit of luck here and there, unless your name is Max Verstappen who is that good all he needs is one of the most dominant cars in F1 history to win and does not need lady luck. Same specification championships are different.
We saw that with Alex Palou last year in his Indycar title series win. Whilst the Spaniard was incredible, he did need luck such as a broken front wing to stick to his car no matter what and some chaotic races to give him a suitable buffer to his nearest contenders. Wehrlein is enduring the same luck and capitalises on it.
Nick Cassidy looked so dominant at the start of the season but has lost it since. Whilst he does take a podium finish in the second race in Misano, overtaking Nico Muller on the finish line, his 2 DNFs in a 3 race streak may come back to bite him. Drivers are here to capitalise on these things, and Pascal Wehrlein has overturned the Kiwi’s points lead in the blink of an eye.
Rowland tastes the highs and the lows
If someone had told Oliver Rowland he would be leading the Formula E championship 6 rounds in, he would not have believed you. However, after the first race in Misano he was ahead. A 4 consecutive podium streak and his first race win since the penultimate round of 2020 got him there.
But in Formula E, to taste success, you need to endure the lows. It would have been the double for Rowland in Italy, before the cruellest of technical malfunctions would take it away with half a lap to go. He must come back from this next race at Monaco, but he has shown all the promise to be a championship contender in 2024.
Da Costa endures heartbreak
After a solid return to form, it looked so good for Antonio Felix Da Costa in the immediate aftermath of Race 1. Going from 13th to winning smashing teammate Wehrlein who has dominated the Portuguese driver for so long, it was a sign being sent to Porsche that he deserves to be kept for 2025.
It is too early to be talking about Formula E silly season but a man like Da Costa will know he needs to put in consistently high performance given his struggles at the end of last season and at the very beginning of this season. His first victory since Cape Town last year would do that for sure. He would be disqualified a number of hours after the incident.
Celebrating a victory by jumping into a swimming pool, to have it then taken off you is a mental blow that will strike any great sportsman greatly. In race 2, he would qualify in last after having a lap time deleted and work his way to the points in another hectic race, but would crash out in the melee.
Da Costa leaves this weekend in the dumps as he has worked so unbelievably hard for a victory to be taken off him and chaos to prevail in such a way that hard work was undermined and undone in the blink of an eye. His potential is there, but qualifying dreadfully and putting himself in those situations is not helping him. It is his seat to lose, and the results are not pointing in the way he and Porsche would like them too.
ERT and ABT lead Backmarker points glory
Wild and chaotic race weekends like the one we witnessed in Misano are a perfect chance for those in the lower tier teams to succeed. Qualifying is essentially made less important, and a clean race with some opportunism can be rewarded. This was clear for ERT and ABT Cupra who scored healthy points this weekend.
Dan Ticktum put an abrupt end to his struggles finishing 4th in Race 1, whilst teammate Sette Camara would get more points for his season in Race 2. 20 points from this weekend puts them 9th in the constructors, but with Envision struggling whenever they turn up who knows what the team are capable of.
ABT would take 13 points from Misano as Di Grassi scored his first point of the season and Nico Muller qualified and finished brilliantly in race 2, having a podium stolen by Nick Cassidy on the line. They are only 4 points behind ERT, and can definitely chase them down if Nico Muller keeps putting in brilliant performances.
What is wrong with Envision?
2023 constructors champions Envision are struggling…really badly. They were the only team other than Mahindra to not score points the whole weekend, with a double DNF too in the latter of the Misano races. They sit 8th in the championship and sit in a no mans land between the backmarkers and the midfield teams.
It is not like they have two poor drivers. Robin Frijns is a double race winner and Sebastien Buemi is an ex-Formula E champion. Both drivers are capable of so much but are making meaningless errors all over the place. Their fall from grace is dreadful and must stop if they have any hope of salvaging any decent positivity from 2024.
It might seem harsh, but it is what comes to mind considering it is rarely ever seen in any form of motorsport with errors being made all over the place.
Championship Review
In the driver’s championship, things are very close at the front. Wehrlein and Dennis are joint in points at the top on 89 points, Oliver Rowland is third on 80, 4 points ahead of Nick Cassidy. There is a gap to Max Gunther in 6th, with Jean Eric Vergne 10 points behind on 53. There is a single point gap between him and the second Jaguar driver Mitch Evans. Both McLarens are 8th and 9th on 38 (Bird) and 25 (Jake Hughes).
10th (Nato) to 16th (Nico Muller) are separated by just 5 points, with a further 6 points gap separating them to Dan Ticktum in 17th. Teammate Sette Camara is a further points behind him, whilst rookie Jehan Daruvala and Di Grassi are the final two points scorers so far. Both Mahindras are pointless.
In the constructors, Jaguar still lead on 128 points ahead of Andretti on 112. Porsche are 3 points behind on 109, whilst Nissan’s resurgence gives them 4th on 100. 12 points separate DS Penske (75), Maserati (65) and McLaren (63) and Envision sit 8th on 41. ERT and ABT are on 23 and 19 points respectively and Mahindra sit bottom of the table.
The jewel in the Formula E calendar gets underway the weekend after next as Gen 3 race around the principality at Monaco. It produced a brilliant race last time, and if it compares anything near to Misano, who knows who could be leading either championship before our next double header in Berlin!
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