Jake Dennis survives multiple scares to Formula E win in Sao Paulo EPrix, as Arvid Lindblad was victorious in F2 sprint in Abu Dhabi.
Dennis started sharply to hold onto the lead while the two Mahindras ran wide through the opening chicane and Dan Ticktum found himself in trouble – dropping all the way to the back of the pack on the exit of those first two corners. That left Dennis leading Wehrlein, Mortara – who recovered after that first corner mishap – Nato, da Costa and the other Mahindra of de Vries rounding out the top six. It could have been far worse for the Indian outfit – and it was de Vries who outbraked himself into Turn 1, clipping Ticktum’s CUPRA KIRO, causing a puncture and ending the Brit’s chances right at the off.
Positions and the lead shuffled on Lap 3 with Wehrlein hitting the front – Dennis happy to conserve for now and slip back down the order into P4. Meanwhile, Mortara was slapped with a five-second penalty for his part in that opening corner incident – the Swiss led on Lap 4 but his race was now severely compromised. Vergne and di Grassi were first to take the initial of their two 50kW all-wheel drive ATTACK MODE boosts while the lead again cycled on Lap 6 between former Porsche teammates da Costa and Wehrlein.
Citroen’s double-champ cycled back up right to the front of the pack by the time his four-minute boost expired. Rowland was next of the top 10 to take ATTACK and saw himself right with Vergne at the end of it – scrapping for the lead and taking it on Lap 9. Lap 11 saw leader da Costa, Evans, Nato, Mortara, Buemi and Barnard all jump for ATTACK with the order further shuffled. When it all shook out, Wehrlein headed the way from Wehrlein, Dennis, Mortara, Nato, da Costa, Rowland, Buemi, Mueller and Evans, the top 10.
The second half of the pack were all yet to jump through the activation zone for ATTACK – setting up a real race of two halves. Lap 17 saw Rowland and Nato come to blows, with both suffering but Nato more than the Brit, coming out of it with a puncture and slipping out of contention entirely. Rowland survived to scrap on in eighth while Guenther sliced by them both. Lap 19 and Dennis led Wehrlein and Cassidy – the Citroen new boy pulling the same tricks under ATTACK MODE to fire by half a dozen down the main straight and put himself right in the mix.
A few turns later and the Kiwi had made it by Wehrlein, too – before homing in on Dennis out front. Lap 22 saw the second round of ATTACK MODE activations begin and the order shuffle. Rowland hit top spot from Dennis, Cassidy, Wehrlein, da Costa, Mueller, Eirksson, Drugovich, Mortara and di Grassi. One lap later, a shunt saw Mortara and di Grassi in contact at Turn 6 with the Mahindra having nowhere to go – meaning a late Safety Car and retirement for the pair.
Lap 27 and we were green once again with Rowland heading Cassidy, Dennis, Wehrlein, da Costa, Mueller, Eriksson, Drugovich, Guenther and Buemi – the Andrettis looking on for a result with energy and an ATTACK MODE activation in-hand. Dennis made it by Cassidy and Rowland through the last sector of Lap 27 with Drugovich up to sixth.
A big shunt for Pepe Marti saw a Red Flag after the CUPRA KIRO flew over the back of da Costa’s Jaguar – with Full Course Yellow thrown with the other Jaguar of Mitch Evans in the wall just prior. The Spaniard was okay, as were da Costa and Mueller – and after the mess was cleared from the track, action got back underway with just a lap to run of the 30. Dennis was able to comfortably head home the one-lap shootout, with Rowland following in second and Cassidy third for a debut podium for Citroen.
Result: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1997366847725826256?s=20
F2 –
Lindblad and Duerksen were even at the start, as the Campos driver kept the lead heading into Turn 1. Having started third, Victor Martins was down to P5 at the start, before Dino Beganovic demoted him to P6 later in the lap. The top two were pulling away on Lap 2, as Duerksen set the fastest lap, closing to within half a second of Lindblad. Beganovic was showing good pace as he had Oliver Goethe in his sights, and was six-tenths behind at the start of Lap 5.
Further down the field, Sebastián Montoya, having had a slow start from sixth, was now in P17, and made a nice move on the brakes into the Turn 6 chicane on Luke Browning for P16. Tsolov, in third, was pulling away from the Goethe and Beganovic battle, while also closing the gap on Duerksen to 3.9s on Lap 8. However, the Bulgarian’s progress was halted briefly when the Virtual Safety Car was deployed, with John Bennett having stopped on track at Turn 5.
The VSC ended on Lap 9, and Duerksen was pushing hard to get ahead of Lindblad. However, he ran too deep at Turn 12 and off the track, dropping out of DRS range to the race leader. As the 23-lap race hit the halfway point, the majority of the field settled into management mode, looking to make sure their Medium tyres lasted until the end. However, Martins in P6, was being closely followed by Alexander Dunne, Gabriele Minì and Jak Crawford.
Dunne looked to go around the outside of the ART Grand Prix driver at Turn 9 on Lap 13, but quickly found the door shut by Martins. Crawford and Minì then went wheel-to-wheel at the Turn 6 chicane on the next lap, with the DAMS Lucas Oil driver completing a nice move to take eighth place. Goethe was doing a good job of holding on to fourth place from Beganovic, and the Hitech TGR driver looked to brave it around the outside at Turn 9 on Lap 16, but again found no way through.
The Swedish driver looked to make the same move at the same corner on the next lap, and on this occasion was able to take fourth from his MP Motorsport rival. Further back, Crawford’s charge continued, as he got past Dunne for seventh at Turn 6. Lap 19 started with Duerksen having closed to within 1.6s of Lindblad out in front, as he looked to make a late charge for the win. Minì was struggling, and was coming under pressure from Roman Stanek and Leonardo Fornaroli.
Crawford was right on the back of Martins on Lap 20, and once again the American was looking to make a move at Turn 6. However, the pair made contact, leaving the DAMS car with front wing damage, although he was able to take P6 heading into Turn 9. The VSC was deployed on the next lap so the end plate could be retrieved from the track, and once the action resumed, Duerksen’s pursuit of Lindblad continued, with the AIX driver 1.1s behind heading on to Lap 22.
Onto the final lap, the lead out in front was 0.9s, but even with the DRS advantage, Duerksen could not make a move, giving Lindblad his third win of the season ahead of the Paraguayan. Tsolov took his maiden F2 podium in third, with Beganovic fourth ahead of Goethe. Crawford finished in P6, ahead of Martins, as Dunne rounded out the points in eighth.
Result: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1997289889675850185?s=20
UPDATE: Following Saturday’s Yas Marina Sprint Race, Leonardo Fornaroli has been handed a penalty. The Invicta Racing driver was alleged to have left the track at Turn 6 and gained a lasting advantage in a battle with Richard Verschoor. After the race, the Stewards spoke to both drivers and their team representatives and examined the available video evidence.
While Fornaroli felt he had given back the advantage by lifting on the track, the Stewards pointed to the Driving Standards guidelines which states that if a driver leaves the track and maintains a position when they come back on to the track, it will generally be considered by the Stewards as having gained an advantage. As a result, the Stewards deemed that Fornaroli had gained a lasting advantage, breaching Article 27.3 of the FIA Formula 2 Sporting Regulations. Therefore, he has been given a 10-second time penalty, dropping him from P11 to P17 in the final classification.
[The story is as per press release]
