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With the longest-ever Formula E race, sizzling temperatures and a championship battle that will go down to the last location on the calendar, here are seven things we learnt when in Rome.
A twist in the title fight
Although we arrived and left Rome with Avalanche Andretti’s Jake Dennis leading the Drivers’ World Championship, there was plenty of drama going on in the standings’ table. After slipping to fourth in round 12, Envision Racing’s Nick Cassidy retook the lead in the standings. However, Jaguar TCS Racing’s Mitch Evans is no stranger to Rome and achieved his third consecutive win on Saturday. In doing so, he made sure to keep his championship hopes alive and moved up into third behind Dennis.
Yet, in a dramatic turn, Evans and Cassidy were both involved in a second lap shunt the following day, taking the Jaguar driver out of the race and sending the Envision man tumbling down the grid. Both failed to score points, whereas Dennis completed a grand slam with the Julius Baer Pole Position, leading every lap for the first time in GEN3 and the all-important victory. He now leads the title fight by 24 points, with two races to go, which is tied as the biggest gap we’ve seen all season!
Evans is a Rome master
Despite his rare mistake in race two of the weekend, Mitch Evans still won his third consecutive race at the italian circuit, giving him the crown of the most wins by a driver at a single location. It’s a circuit he knows and loves, and aside from his error the following day, he normally does very well here. On Saturday, he started from pole and became the first man to ever win the race from the P1 grid slot, but fumbled at the chance to make it four wins at the venue when he crashed into the back of Cassidy a day later. Jaguar, and their powertrains, looked super strong though, with both Envision drivers doing well, including Cassidy who achieved a P2 result behind Evans in round 13.
Maserati continue to make history
Maserati MSG Racing are certainly not shy of ‘home races’ this year. First up was Monaco, their official home race, and base of the Monaco Sports Group - the ‘MSG’ in their team name. However, for Maserati, Rome was a big event. The iconic Italian manufacturer has almost completed its first season in the all-electric championship, and managed to finish on the podium here in Rome! Thanks to Maximilian Guenther, who seems to thrive in these hot conditions, he jumped from eighth and ended up third after a crazy race.
The German has now achieved three podiums in the last four races, which is even more impressive when you consider that he failed to score a single point until the Berlin E-Prix in Round 7. Unfortunately his teammate Edoardo Mortara was one of those caught up in the six-car pile-up on Saturday, but did go on to record his best result of the season the next day and his first top-five finish of Season 9.
For Maserati, they have won in Rome before, dating back to 1930, 1931 and 1932, and picked up their first silverware in the Italian capital since 1957!
Mueller on a mission
ABT CUPRA’s Nico Mueller managed not one, but two points finishes this weekend! In round 13, the Swiss driver battled the likes of DS PENSKE’s Jean-Eric Vergne and Nissan’s Norman Nato to achieve his best Formula E result of the season. In fact, this was such a huge win for the team, his eight championship points were as many as the ABT CUPRA team had managed in the rest of the season combined. Things only got better for Mueller, as the next day he managed to finish tenth and get consecutive points finishes for the first time in GEN3.
Nissan's first podium of new generation
It was a weekend of ups and downs for the Nissan squad. Driver Sacha Fenestraz was lining up on the grid in first place after the lengthy red flag period on Saturday, but failed to make it stick and once again missed out on his - and the teams - first podium of the season. He then suffered an issue with his battery, which caused him to miss Free Practice 3 and qualifying, placing him at the back of the grid for the next race and no real chance of redemption. However, on the other side of the garage the tables turned. Norman Nato had crashed earlier in the weekend, but managed to start in third for the second race. He kept his cool, and put on a defensive masterclass to keep the hungry Sam Bird (Jaguar TCS Racing), behind even with some front wing damage to his Nissan. As a result, he crossed the finish line in second, to get Nissan their first trophy as an official manufacturer team!
Rome continues to be a big challenge
In the lead up to the Hankook Rome E-Prix, drivers were all saying how much they enjoyed this track, but that it punished mistakes: a theme we saw throughout the weekend. The first to be caught out in a big way was NEOM McLaren’s Jake Hughes, who crashed heavily in qualifying for Round 13 and as a result couldn’t take part in the race itself.
However, the biggest talking point from the weekend was the crash during Saturday’s race that led to six cars retiring from the race. Jaguar’s Sam Bird, who was racing around in third, lost control of his car in the fastest part of the circuit and on a blind bend. As a result, several cars flew past him, some missing him and others clipping the side of his car and breaking their suspensions, or crashing directly into him. Those involved included Sebastien Buemi (Envision Racing), Edoardo Mortara (Maserati MSG Racing), Antonio Felix da Costa (TAG Heuer Porsche), Robin Frijns (ABT CUPRA), Lucas di Grassi (Mahindra Racing) and Bird.
It was a true testament to the FIA, Formula E and the teams that these GEN3 machines are such strong pieces of kit that all drivers were able to walk away unaided and unhurt.
Dedication and talent like nowhere else
Following on from this incident on Saturday, several cars were very badly damaged and would require entire rebuilds - something that can take days to do back in the factory. But, the teams didn’t have days, they had hours and so began the big rebuilds up and down the pit lane.
“It was pretty clear from the size of that impact that we would need a new chassis,” Jaguar’s Team Principal, James Barclay, said about the impact. “Straight away, we started preparing and getting ready for building a new car. Not a small job, because there wasn't honestly a huge amount left of Sam’s chassis. So we were into a big shift.
“Sometimes you're prepared and do a lot of work to minimise it when it happens. These are really complex cars. So one thing is getting the useful bits of the previous car, putting them on to the new car, and then replacing the completely broken parts. Then literally starting the car to make sure it actually works. Because again, you have to have all the systems broken, shut all that apart hardware talking to each other.
“Then before you even think about performance, just firstly get that bit right. So everything from the hardware, the bodywork and just making sure the bodywork is ready to go and fits well. It's a huge operation.
“Normally, you'd want to take a week and a half to do that back at the factory. And the fact that as many of the teams did that overnight is testament to the amazing mechanics and tech teams. We, like a lot of teams, operate in a bit of a shift as well just to try and give everyone a chance to eat dinner, you can't just because they've had a long day already in immense heat. It’s incredibly testing from a human perspective.”
In an incredible turnaround, all 22 cars were able to start the next round, all fully fixed and ready to race.