La ninth season of the world championship for electric single-seaters, the ABB FIA Formula E, finally saw the light on January 14, 2023. The first of the sixteen appointments of this season featured theAutódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, in a shortened key compared to the Formula 1 layout. The new circuit, made up of 19 corners, is 2.628 m long and maintains the iconic passage in the "Hole", the baseball stadium created after the last Mexican Grand Prix (by then). Let's see together how the weekend that crowned him as the first winner of Gen3 unfolded Jake dennis, Avalanche Andretti Formula E driver.
Qualifying: Di Grassi back in the limelight
For the first qualifying of the season, the 22 cars were split into two groups of 11, with each team represented in both groups. After the first sessions, one of the first surprises was the elimination in both groups of the two Jaguars, DS and Maserati, excellent in pre-season tests. At the same time, the entry of Dan ticktum and with a NIO 333 quite reborn, she gave hope to the Chinese team. In duels, a revived Lucas di Grassi managed to annihilate the competition from Sébastien Buemi ed Andre Lotterer, reaching the final against Jake dennis. Andretti's Englishman also beat pascal wehrlein e Jake Hughes, with the latter making his debut with NEOM McLaren Formula E.
In the final the fight was, as mentioned, between Di Grassi and Dennis, with the latter however making a series of mistakes which led him to finish almost three seconds slower than Di Grassi. The Brazilian thus took his first pole position since the penultimate round of the third season, and his fourth in his career.
Race: Dennis sets off and never looks back
At the start of the race, di Grassi comfortably managed the lead, but one safety car even before the start of the second lap he reunited the group. The cause of the safety? A bad accident he saw Robin Frijns, bearer of ABT Cupra, striking from behind the Nissan's Norman Born. Precisely because of the accident, the Dutchman will have to undergo surgery due to a fracture in his left wrist.
At the restart, Dennis continued to put di Grassi in trouble, but again had to wait due to a second safety car. This time the cause was the Jaguar of Sam bird, stopped coming out of Turn 1 with the drive shaft broken. Finally, on lap 10, the race restarted, and two laps later Dennis managed to get di Grassi to make a mistake, thus taking the lead.
Unfortunately for him, a third safety car has made its entrance, due to an accident that has seen protagonist Edward Mortara, Maserati MSG Racing standard bearer. Mortara lost the rear of the car, reversing into the barriers. At the restart, the difference in consumption between Dennis and di Grassi was in favor of the Englishman, who was able to manage the race calmly.
Di Grassi then found himself in such difficulty that he also lost second place to the advantage of pascal wehrlein. The Porsche powertrain, which also drives the Andretti cars, proved to be fuel efficient, and Dennis' lead gradually grew. In the end, the Englishman achieved his first success of the season with ben eight seconds ahead of Wehrlein. Di Grassi finally finished in third place, completing the first podium for Gen3.
Standings
