Wehrlein takes Formula E standings lead with Jeddah win in 100th race start

The prowess of the Porsche 99X Electric came to the fore on the high-speed streets of the Jeddah Corniche circuit, which is also the host of Formula 1’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The 2023-24 Formula E champion Wehrlein vaulted to the top of the drivers' championship with his first victory of the season in race one, having moved up from third on the grid.

The win came in his 100th race start in the series, having made his debut in Season 5.

He backed that up with a great recovery drive in race two, moving from 11th to eighth.

His Porsche team-mate Nico Müller finished a strong fourth in race one, before ending up 16th in race two.

Andretti driver Jake Dennis picked up a couple of points for a ninth place in race one, but his chances of making the most from a front row start in race two were ruined by a puncture.

His team-mate Felipe Drugovich finished 15th and 12th across the double-header.

Cupra Kiro had a quiet opener on Saturday but excelled in Sunday’s second race, with Dan Ticktum and Pepe Martí taking fifth and sixth at the chequered flag.

The story of Race One

Wehrlein qualified third and ran fourth after tussles with the cars around him on a chaotic opening lap.

Just as he was harrying Taylor Barnard’s DS Penske, a full-course yellow was thrown for another driver’s incident, which soon turned into a safety car.

Not long after the safety car returned to the pits, Wehrlein passed Barnard and was on the back of Norman Nato’s Nissan for second place, with race leader Maximilian Günther in his sights.

Nato passed Günther, but despite strong pace, Wehrlein’s initial attempts to follow him through were hampered by Günther weaving on the straight - something for which he received a black and white warning flag.

Wehrlein still managed to pick his way through around the outside of Günther on lap 14 of 31.

One lap later and Wehrlein took the lead from Nato on the run to the sweeping Turn 13 left-hand hairpin.

Wehrlein bolted in the clear air and started building an advantage over his rivals, who squabbled behind him.

Günther used his sole attack mode activation before his Pit Boost pitstop, which gives him extra power and all-wheel drive for six minutes.

That extra power allowed him to briefly pass Wehrlein just before the Porsche driver made his Pit Boost pitstop.

The Pit Boost format returned for Jeddah’s opening race, where cars have to make a fast-charging pitstop to get a 10% energy increase (3.85Wh), remarkably in just over 30 seconds.

Wehrlein and Porsche wisely chose to activate their attack mode just after the pitstop, and Wehrlein used this extra power to swiftly blast past Günther.

Wehrlein pumped in a series of quick laps under attack mode to build a comfortable lead that would prove insurmountable for his rivals.

With plenty of advantage in hand, he crossed the line over two and a half seconds ahead of Edoardo Mortara’s Mahindra and posted the fastest lap of the race.

Team-mate Müller completed a strong race one for Porsche in fourth place, having charged from seventh on the grid.

The story of Race Two

Having qualified in 11th, Wehrlein immediately broke into the top 10 on the first lap, jumping up to ninth ahead of Günther and Nick Cassidy’s Citroën.

He was soon up into eighth place ahead of Zane Maloney’s Lola in a series of cagey opening laps in a race where energy-management was more crucial with no Pit Boost pitstops.

By the one-third point of the race, Wehrlein was up to sixth, having overtaken Jean-Eric Vergne’s Citroën and Jake Dennis’s Andretti-Porsche.

He lost positions when other drivers took their attack modes earlier, but once Wehrlein deployed his later in the race, he scythed his way back up the field and into sixth with five laps remaining.

Wehrlein lost places to Martí and Mitch Evans’s Jaguar in the closing laps but still banked a valuable four points for an eighth-place finish, to keep his newly-held drivers’ championship lead.

The Porsche Formula E Team also strengthened its position at the top of the teams’ championship and Porsche did the same atop the manufacturers’ table.

Customer Racing

Andretti’s Dennis started and finished ninth in race one, but he qualified on the front row for the second race alongside poleman Mortara.

However, Dennis was thwarted by a puncture just after the halfway mark, which dropped him to the back of the field.

Team-mate Felipe Drugovich had a strong Sunday but went unrewarded for a 12th place finish.

Cupra Kiro didn’t score a point on Saturday but showed impressive speed on Sunday, highlighting the strength of the Porsche 99X Electric package at Jeddah.

Ticktum and Martí finished fifth and sixth, the team’s strongest result of the season.

Coming next

Formula E is heading for its first-ever Madrid E-Prix at the former F1 venue at Jarama on March 21.

Jarama hosted Formula E’s pre-season test in November 2024, so the drivers and teams already have some experience of it with these cars.

Wehrlein and Porsche will be looking to increase their championship leads at the sixth round of 17.