Discover more

analysis stoffel vandoorne jake dennis maserati msg racing Andretti estación 11

Vandoorne takes Round 8 and Dennis hails 'one of best' drives on way to ABB award in Tokyo

Análisis 23 May 2025 4 Min

A bold and perfectly executed strategy earned Maserati MSG’s Stoffel Vandoorne and Thibault Arnal a race victory and the ABB Engineered to Outrun Award in Japan, where Jake Dennis and Sean McGill brilliantly earned ABB honours in race two.

Discover more

analysis stoffel vandoorne jake dennis maserati msg racing Andretti estación 11

The simple version of how Vandoorne went from 14th to first and earn his first victory as a Maserati MSG Racing driver in the opening part of the Tokyo E-Prix double-header is he went into the race planning to make his mandatory PIT BOOST stop early, with a brave strategy gambling on an incident then occurring in the treacherous conditions.

What transpired was a rare example of when “every little thing that you discuss before the race actually happens”, according to Vandoorne. Executing it was nowhere near as simple as it sounds, though.

To get the early PIT BOOST chance Vandoorne had to work through his usable energy quickly, to get to the threshold of 60% that would open his pit window. This meant navigating the early laps of the race in the midfield, peering through the spray, while trying to be aggressive on energy usage and driving with less or no regeneration - not the typical way to race a Formula E car, in conditions that were just waiting to bite.

In the opening four laps Vandoorne averaged 4.2% a lap battery usage against a grid median of 2.65%, to use up around 6% more battery than would have been typical. This unlocked a pitstop several laps before anyone else, and he dived in per their pre-race plan.

Then it was a matter of waiting - but it paid off quickly. A crash for Max Guenther caused a Red Flag, which was perfect for Vandoorne as it meant the race was restarted with him right with the rest of the field, who all needed to stop!

This gave him risk-free moves up the order once the race resumed and everybody started filtering in for PIT BOOST, and a huge margin to manage until the end.

Having an aggressive energy target to manage to the end courtesy of stopping so early, plus a very wet track, ensured this was still not straightforward - asVandoorne discovered when he lost five seconds, 20% of his 25-second margin, to the chasing standings leader Oliver Rowland with a quick spin on the circuit.

He got away with striking the wall in the process so opted, wisely, to take no risks from that point onwards, hence using less energy than almost all other drivers for the last six laps in a row. But this was just to manage a win that had already been secured, with Vandoorne praising Arnal’s good communication which kept him “very calm”.

Dennis: 'One of my best drives'

Dennis started the second Tokyo race in the same position Vandoorne won race one from (14th) But with PIT BOOST not being a factor, a calculated roll of the dice was not quite as forthcoming.

But he did at least have added motivation having been denied a possible podium on Saturday by being black flagged. And Dennis’s Sunday rise was all about having strong pace and being sharp with overtakes outside of ATTACK MODE, which had proved so tricky all weekend given the conditions.

Andretti opted to avoid using ATTACK MODE initially, which was in contrast to the majority of the field. Dennis was also quite cautious in the first few laps, using less than 3% a lap energy, and building a small surplus compared to the others of around 1.5%.

But he was still able to be combative in the midfield at the same time so rose to 12th while still having the extra power and four-wheel-drive activations in his pocket.

The first ATTACK MODE use came on Lap 18, and four minutes and three laps later Dennis was already up to fourth. He then had to manage others behind saving an extra two minutes of ATTACK MODE for their second activations, but did so effectively, and ran sixth when all the lead cars had used both ATTACK MODES.

He took advantage of contact between Edoardo Mortara and Taylor Barnard to reclaim fourth, which Dennis held to the end after a late safety car restart - a result Dennis said he was “absolutely ecstatic” with, given it came from so many passes in ‘normal’ conditions.

Dennis made 17 competitive overtakes in total across the race and didn’t hold back on the superlatives, calling it “pretty exceptional” to make up so much ground “on a track where you can barely overtake”.

He reckoned it was “one of my best drives I’ve ever done in Formula E”. Given he is a Formula E World Champion, there’s some strong opposition for that on Dennis’s CV. Which just speaks to the quality of how he and his team outran the opposition in Tokyo.

SCHEDULE: Where, when and how to watch or stream the 2025 Shanghai E-Prix Rounds 10 and 11

Formula E returns to Shanghai for electric racing in China's biggest city. There's double the action across Saturday 31 May and Sunday 1 June 2025 - make sure you don't miss a moment.

View the full schedule in your time zone and check the broadcaster listings or tap the Ways to Watch button above to find out where to watch all the racing action where you live.