After a surprising qualifying session in Miami, who took victory in the sunshine state as Formula E returned to racing action?
Qualifying in Miami was anything but predictable. Both championship contenders, Oliver Rowland and Taylor Barnard, were eliminated in the group stages. The Jaguars languished down in the lower order.
Instead, it was the second Nissan of Norman Nato starting in pole position, he aimed to take his first win since Berlin 2021.
Lights out in Miami leads to energy-saving
At lights out, the top two held position, with the field behaving themselves as the cars completed the first lap. Da Costa cruised passed Dennis to take second, with De Vries relieving Robin Frijns of third. At the end of the first lap, De Vries’s aggressive start rewarded him with the lead.
The championship contenders, meanwhile, were 12th and 15th, the field nowhere near maximum pace as energy saving began.
Da Costa and De Vries led Frijns, wth polesitter Nato relegated to 5th by lap 3, as the second Envision of Buemi moved into 3rd. Barnard moved to 11th, but was still a long way from the front positions.
Nato went on a push, moving into 2nd on lap five, taking the lead from De Vries shortly afterwards. Barnard, on a similar attacking charge, moved from 11th to 6th.
Drivers begin to push
When the energy levels were published, those in the lower order looked to be in a stronger position. Jake Dennis relieved Stoffel Vandoorne of 9th as drivers started to attack each other.
The field, still congested now had to decide when to take the first of their two Attack Modes. Buemi became the first to blink on lap 9, taking a two minutes. His progress was rapid, moving into third on lap 10.
Vandoorne became the next front runner to take Attack Mode on lap 10, de Vries following a lap later. The Dutchman opted for four minutes to try and get back into the lead.
Jean-Eric Vergne had a wide moment, taking to the grass, rejoining in 16th. After coming together with Lucas Di Grassi’s Lola.
The top two of Nato and Da Costa continued at the front without taking their Attack Modes as the chasing pack waited for a front-runner to make a move. De Vries retook the lead on lap 12, and tried to create a gap to Nato’s Nissan, but failed to d so before his Attack Mode ran out.
Down the order, Mueller, David Beckmann and Mitch Evans took their first Attack Modes and began to upset the midfield. The cars compressed together, with Mueller now at the front. However, Beckmann had suspension damage and was forced to retire.
Attack Mode chaos, Safety Car and red flag
With Attack Mode now being utilised throughout the grid, multiple drivers took the lead of the race in a matter of corners.
Porsche were the big winners of the chaos, with Pascal Wehrlein and Da Costa moving into the lead. Da Costa took his second Attack Mode on lap 16, crucially rejoining ahead of Robin Frijns. Porsche were now free to control the pace. Di Grassi’s Lola now moved into 3rd.
De Vries saw his good work evaporate on lap 17, leading to the deployment of the Safety Car. The Dutchman performed a full system reset, and rejoined, al and rejoined, albeit at the back of the field.
With 8 laps to go, the two Porsches were now in a great position. However, most of the field still had a final Attack Mode to take.
Da Costa took his final Attack Mode on lap 20, taking a full five minutes. But his efforts were wasted, as Jake Hughes, Max Gunther and Mitch Evans collided at Turn 12, bringing out the red flag.
Restart and finale
The Attack Mode clock expired on Da Costa, Mortara, Vergne, Buemi, Vandoorne, Gunther and Evans in the pits. Nick Cassidy was awarded a time penalty in the pits for track limits.
This put Da Costa in a difficult position. The chasing six cars behind him at an Attack Mode left. Nato with six minutes left looked in a strong position, as did Sam Bird.
As the cars took to the track after the delay, fans in the grandstand were to be treated to a grandstand sprint to the finish.
The drivers lined up on the grid, those with six minutes of Attack Mode faced a dilemma. They must used all of the power ahead of the chequered flag, but with only four laps of racing remaining, this would be difficult.
At lights out, the two Porsches led away, but Mortara split the two purple cars. All drivers needing to take Attack Mode peeled off to the detection zone, causing a traffic jam.
Mortara ran wide into Turn 1, losing 3rd to Frijns. With extra power and four wheel drive, Wehrlein moved into the lead, with the second Porsche of Da Costa relegated to 5th. Many drivers would finish the race with Attack Mode, meaning the final result would be different to that on track.
Wehrlein ended his Attack Mode with plenty of time to spare, but Nato and took victory on the road. Wehrlein took P2, with Frijns taking the final step on the podium.
But the stewards pointed the Porsche into P1, with Di Grassi taking a well-deserved podium for Lola and Da Costa took 3rd. Once the stewards handed out 10-second penalties, the final result looked very different.
Provisonal Classification
- Pascal Wehrlein
- Lucas di Grassi
- Antonio Felix Da Costa
- Nico Muller
- Edoardo Mortara
- Norman Nato
- Dan Ticktum
- Robin Frijns
- Jake Dennis
- Zane Maloney
- Oliver Rowland
- Nick de Vries
- Jean-Eric Vergne
- Sebastien Buemi
- Stoffel Vandoorne
- Nick Cassidy
- Mitch Evans
- Max Gunther
- Sam Bird
- Taylor Barnard
- David Beckmann
Not classified
Jake Hughes
