Formula E returned to the Shanghai International Circuit this past weekend for its sophomore year, and these past 2 rounds did not disappoint in terms of action.
Round 10:
DS Penske driver Maximilian Guenther led the field away from pole position ahead of Taylor Barnard, who started in P2. Pascal Wehrlein managed to jump him at the start with the peloton style of racing returning to Formula E. There was disaster for the Jaguar TCS Racing driver Nick Cassidy as he was spun at the chicane after getting tapped by the Mahindra Racing driver Edoardo Mortara. Contact occurred later on between Rowland and Vandoorne while the peloton style occurred, and by lap 11, De Vries was leading ahead of the Andretti driver Nico Mueller and Envision Racing’s Robin Frijns.
Pit boost was active in this race, and many drivers immediately took the opportunity to pit, starting at the end of lap 12 and the start of lap 13. Drivers such as Guenther, Buemi, Bird and Maloney all took attack mode immediately after their pit boost.
The race started to heat up from here, as it was a flat-out race with Barnard having a 2.5-second lead before that shrank with Guenther and Rowland then battling for the win towards the end of the race. Barnard and Nato were battling before a massive battle on the last lap for 2nd, with Barnard and Ticktum looking likely to take the positions before Jean-Eric Vergne made a move into the final chicane to take P2 and secure DS Penske’s first 1-2, with Guenther managing to hold onto the win with Barnard in P3. Dan Ticktum finished P4 from P21; championship leader Oliver Rowland finished P5, Norman Nato P6, Sam Bird P7, and Nyck De Vries P8, with the Envision duo of Sebastian Buemi and Robin Frijns rounding out the points-paying positions.
Image Credit: Formula E Media Bank
Round 11:
After a delayed start due to the rain, we had a rolling start on lap 8, which saw Nick Cassidy lead the field away from the Porsche duo, and all 3 of them instantly took attack mode, including the top 11 apart from Di Grassi. Wehrlein went for a longer attack mode, so he and Da Costa swapped positions. Many drivers struggled throughout the race, including Nyck De Vries, who went through the gravel, and Wehrlein went sideways.
Towards the middle section of the race, both Lola Yamaha Abt cars were battling with Maserati and Mahindra of Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck De Vries. The most recent race winner, Maximilian Guenther, got a red car, but this did NOT cause a red flag. He had to pull off to the side of the track to retire. There were 3 added laps due to the safety car, with Cassidy having a MAJOR lead over Pascal Wehrlein. Cassidy held onto the lead to win his first E-Prix of 2025! Pascal Wehrlein and Antonio Felix Da Costa closed out the top 3. Jake Hughes finished P4, Jean-Eric Vergne P5, Nico Mueller P6, Stoffel Vandoorne P7, Robin Frijns P8, Lucas Di Grassi P9, and Taylor Barnard P10!
