Mexico City E-Prix Facts and Figures

The record books will show a dominant victory for Jaguar’s Mitch Evans, but in classic Formula E fashion the race was still action packed. The race around the updated Mexico City layout saw championship contenders crash and fall by the wayside and allow Evans to take the championship lead. We now take a look at the facts and figures behind the days racing in Mexico City.

– As with his first Formula E victory in Rome last season, Mitch Evans won from second on the grid starting behind Andre Lotterer. This is the third time that Evans and Lotterer have shared the front row of the grid, the other time being the Season 4 Zurich E-Prix (in which Evans finished seventh from pole position and Lotterer finished fourth from second on the grid). Only Felix Rosenqvist and Sam Bird have shared the front row more times (four times during Season 3 and Season 4).
– As well as climbing from 18th on the grid to finish fifth, Alexander Sims also claimed the fastest lap in Mexico City, putting him just one point behind Evans in the championship. This is the first time that Sims has claimed fastest lap, and he becomes the third driver to claim a fastest lap for BMW (only Mahindra have had four drivers claim fastest lap for the team).
– A total of ten drivers failed to be classified in Mexico City, which beats the previous record of eight. This comes on the back of last season’s Mexico City E-Prix, which saw the record for the most classified finishers (21).
– Many drivers passed various points milestone in Mexico City. The record points scorer, Lucas di Grassi, became the first Formula E driver to pass 750 points. Sebastien Buemi became the second driver to pass the 700 points mark (the Swiss driver is only 37 points behind the overall tally of di Grassi). Venturi’s Edoardo Mortara and BMW’s Sims both passed the 100 points mark, meaning 18 drivers are into the triple digits.

After having to take new gearboxes, due to reliability concerns, both Mahindra drivers started on the back row of the grid, and even had extra penalties to contend with. Dilbagh Gill said before the race that the team would need a miracle in Mexico to score points, and that is exactly what they got. Pascal Wehrlein managed to climb 15 places to claim two points, and after the disqualification of James Calado, Jerome d’Ambrosio was elevated to tenth place, scoring one point. This is the first time that both Mahindra drivers have gained ten or more places in the same race.

After also starting from near the back of the grid, Alexander Sims managed to gain 13 places to take home ten championship points, which along with his point for fastest lap could be vital in a championship battle.

A total of 15 drivers managed to gain places from their grid position during the race, which equals the record from last season’s Rome E-Prix, which was also won by Mitch Evans.

The reprofiled Turn 3 was catching many drivers out in the race, with Andre Lotterer, Ma Qing Hua, Sam Bird and Stoffel Vandoorne all retiring after contact with the outside barrier. With Vandoorne and Bird (who both were in the top three in the drivers’ championship coming into Mexico) losing a combined 16 places they now only sit fourth and sixth in the drivers’ championship.

We are now four races into Season 6 and the pecking order is starting to take shape. Compared to the first four races of last season only three teams have improved on their points tally (Jaguar who are 28 points better off, Nissan who are 22 points better off and BMW who are seven points better off). Jaguar have claimed two podiums in the first four races this season, compared to highest of a fourth place in the first four races of Season 5.

Geox Dragon are the only team to have scored the same number of points in the first four race of Season 5 and Season 6, having had a solitary ninth place in both seasons. DS Techeetah are the only team to be sitting in the same position in the championship as they were leaving Mexico City last season (fourth).

Mahindra have the worst comparison to twelve months ago. At this point last season Mahindra had already claimed three podiums and one pole position and were leading the teams’ championship. However, this season Pascal Wehrlein’s fourth place in Santiago is the only top eight finish for the Indian squad this season, and the team sit only above Dragon and NIO in the championship.

In motorsport a driver’s teammate can be their toughest competitor, and this is no different in Formula E. Some drivers have had success against their teammate, and others have struggled to get the upper hand. Ma Qing Hua came into Mexico City haven’t been outqualified by his various teammates in all the previous 12 E-Prixs that he had entered. Due to a technical issue in qualifying for Ma’s teammate, Oliver Turvey, Ma managed to make his qualifying record 1-12. We now take a look at a few of the drivers to have had long qualifying streaks against their teammates, and others who have struggled against their teammates.

A total of nine drivers have managed to out qualify their teammate in eight or more consecutive races, with Jean-Eric Vergne and Sebastien Buemi holding the record of a having outqualified their respective teammate in 13 races in a row.

Even though these graphs only show the longest streak for each driver, Vergne, Buemi and Mitch Evans could have appeared on here twice, as they have all had qualifying streaks of eight or more races on two separate occasions.

If Ma had been outqualified by Oliver Turvey in Mexico City he would have become the first Formula E driver to have been outqualified in their first 13 E-Prixs. However, due to Turvey’s mechanical issue the streak finally ends at only 12, equalling Daniel Abt. Abt was outqualified by Lucas di Grassi 12 times between the Season 1 Monaco E-Prix and the Season 2 Paris E-Prix.

Nelson Piquet, Antonio Felix da Costa and Stephane Sarrazin are the only drivers to have appeared on both graphs, having both outqualified their teammates, and been outqualified by their teammates in seven more consecutive E-Prixs.

Picture source: FIA Formula E Media