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Frijns and Scott engineer their way to ABB award in Jakarta

Analyse 27 Juni 2025 3 Min

An impressive rise through more than half the field earned Robin Frijns and Dan Scott a points finish and the ABB Engineered to Outrun victory in Jakarta.

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Suspension failure early in FP1, and a wet FP2, meant Frijns had almost zero dry running going into qualifying, where a small mistake meant he started in 22nd on the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship’s trip to Indonesia.

A tricky, dusty track was made even more challenging by rain that washed away what grip had built up. That made it a race that would have opportunity, but also one in which competitive overtakes would be tough - as going off-line was perilous if a driver got it wrong.

Frijns isn’t a driver for whom caution comes easy, and he is usually at his best when on the attack. Which turned out to be a viable strategy in Jakarta, as Frijns gained 13 places and made 16 competitive overtakes on the way as the usual rollercoaster of a Formula E race played out.

Frijns was happy to spend energy early on to try to make progress immediately. It was tough, but he did begin to gradually climb: into 20th by lap four, then jumping three cars on lap five - where Frijns was one of only two drivers to average more than 90km/h and peaked at 224km/h.

This ate into his usable energy a little, but Frijns’ State of Charge was hardly poor - he had only sacrificed around 0.5% from his battery compared to the majority of the field, so was very much in play. Plus, the likelihood of a caution period - and this race had several - always presented a chance to save later on, which Frijns did very well. He saved enough under the two safety cars to more than make up for what had been expended early on.

In the meantime, strategy still had a part to play. Frijns’ was less about saving energy but using it wisely, while timing his ATTACK MODE activations for maximum effect. He kept his second energy boost and four-wheel drive use in hand for longer than anyone in front, despite moving up to 13th as trouble befell others.

Frijns still had his full ATTACK MODE allowance available when the race resumed with 12 laps to go. He used the first to grab two places and pull himself to the fringes of the points, then a Full Course Yellow nullified several others who activated ATTACK MODE for the final time.

This gave Frijns a potential late advantage, but it was immediately cancelled out as he dropped to 12th activating it just as Stoffel Vandoorne crash, which caused another Full Course Yellow.

Although that was unfortunate timing, problems for Jake Dennis and Nyck de Vries elevated Frijns to 10th anyway, and he was then promoted to ninth by a time penalty for Oliver Rowland.

It may not have been a flashy drive, and it could have come with a bigger reward at the end, but it was a strongly executed and sensible one - with points a deserved outcome for being sharp and keeping it clean in a race where many others found drama.