Formula E's best moments in Mexico City

Join Formula E

Sign in or create your Formula E account

It's quick, easy and free to sign up

You'll get access to:

  • Helmet

    News. Analysis. Exclusive Features

  • Schedule

    Priority Booking. Early Bird Pricing

  • Trophy

    Competitions. Discounts. Experiences

  • Podium

    Predict. Vote. Win.

TO CONTINUE READING...

You will need to sign in or create a Formula E account.

Formula E's best moments in Mexico City

One of the most-loved circuits on the calendar, Formula E and Mexico are a match made in heaven. The Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez always delivers a crazy and entertaining race for a fantastic opening round of the season. Here are our best races in Mexico City.

di grassi wehrlein mexico overtake

The complete back catalogue of races from Seasons 1 to 10 - including every single race we've picked below - is now available to stream here on the Formula E website and app - with all the Season 11 races also dropping seven days after airing live in 2024!

Season 2: D'Ambrosio's pole and win double

DRAGON’s Jerome D’Ambrosio sealed pole at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the inaugural Mexico City E-Prix and stamped home his authority over the opening stages. Lucas di Grassi was making progress with the pit window looming, though, and his move on Nico Prost set the ball rolling.

Mexico City's Best Moments

With the lead quintet descending on the pits on Lap 22, a reshuffle looked imminent, and di Grassi emerged right on the tail of leader D’Ambrosio, with Sebastien Buemi leaping to third after a swift turnaround by his pitcrew. That trio pulled clear out front, but Prost was slapped with a drive-through for moving on Daniel Abt on pit-exit.

WATCH: How to watch Formula E's season-opening Hankook Mexico City E-Prix where you are

Di Grassi spied his chance to pounce into the lead, with the ABT Schaeffler racer easing by D’Ambrosio into Turn 1 while the Belgian was left to fend off an increasingly irate Buemi behind – the two coming into contact and skipping the chicane as they fought hard for silverware. The Swiss had to settle for third, following di Grassi and D’Ambrosio home.

All was not as it appeared, however, with the race-winning ABT driver disqualified as his car was underweight, handing the second-placed Belgian the race win.

D'Ambrosio: 'I'm proud of my career as a driver and very grateful – I've

Season 3: Di Grassi pulls off the impossible from back in the pack

NIO’s Oliver Turvey took his first – and only, to-date – Formula E pole position in Mexico City, with Daniel Abt removed from the result having used illegal tyre pressures. 36,000 fans packed into the grandstands and saw Turvey lead away, with title protagonists di Grassi and Abt marooned down the order.

MEET THE GRID: Which drivers are on the 2024 grid in Formula E?

There was plenty of drama and contact in the opening throes with Maro Engel losing his front wing at the chicane, Antonio Felix da Costa taking avoiding action down an escape road and D’Ambrosio tagging di Grassi, forcing the latter to pit and the Safety Car to make an appearance.

Turvey retained charge of proceedings, though Buemi and di Grassi were making up ground. A second appearance for the BMW i8 Safety Car signalled the end of the birthday boy’s fun with Turvey’s car grinding to a halt and out of the race from the lead.

Formula E: Di Grassi says Mexico win was 'best drive of his career' | The  Independent | The Independent

An ingenious gamble saw di Grassi and D’Ambrosio make for their second cars some five laps ahead of time. They inherited spots at the head of the pack – the Safety Car eliminating the time loss saved for swapping cars, and allowing them to conserve enough energy to make the end of the E-Prix.

LONG READ: Take a look back through Formula E's history

It all looked rosy for the lead pair, who created gap on the rest – though both had to keep a close eye on their energy levels. A third Safety Car threw D’Ambrosio’s plans into the dust. He clung on to second as long as he could, allowing di Grassi to scamper clear.

Season 3, Round 4, Mexico City (FULL RACE) - gated

Jose Maria Lopez, Jean-Eric Vergne and Sam Bird all bunched up behind the Belgian, who did hold on for a good few laps. The pressure was relieved again with Lopez before he enacted his own demise with a spin at Turn 1. Buemi followed and with Vergne up the road and chasing the leader, Bird was left best-placed for a move for third – sensationally making it by d’Ambrosio at Turn 3.

As it turned out, D’Ambrosio’s defence cost Vergne a shot at the lead – allowing di Grassi to manage things home after what turned out to be a strategic masterstroke. He’d started 15th! It’s still to this day the furthest anyone’s come from starting berth to race win.

Season 4: Abt's first victory

Mahindra’s Felix Rosenqvist took pole position and led until 14 laps from the end before a battery management issue ended his race early. NIO’s Turvey inherited the lead until the car swaps but swift work from the Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler crew meant Abt was able to profit and pinch the lead with Turvey struggling to select a gear.

CALENDAR: The 2023/24 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship schedule

From there, the German led the way for his first career victory and a maiden win for a German driver in Formula E. Turvey did come home second, and held off Buemi in the process, with the Swiss rounding out the podium in third.

Season 4, Round 5, Mexico City (FULL RACE) - gated

Season 5: Di Grassi steals win in Formula E's closest ever finish

Pascal Wehrlein danced to a maiden pole in what was his first season in Formula E. The Mahindra man led away and left di Grassi battling with Felipe Massa for second, although not for long – Nissan’s Oliver Rowland divebombing the both of them and catching them unawares.

A massive accident involving Nelson Piquet Jr. and Vergne on Lap 3 put a halt to proceedings for half an hour. The shunt catapulted Piquet into the air at the Peraltada chicane, causing the car to shatter on landing. Alexander Sims was caught up in the melee and he and Vergne were able to make repairs and restart. All three were thankfully uninjured.

Wehrlein led Rowland and di Grassi away and the trio pulled a gap, with the whole field taking ATTACK MODE. From there, it was a settled encounter. Wehrlein’s usable energy was looking tight, though, with five laps to go and some conservative driving opened the door to di Grassi and Rowland – the Brazilian now second having made a move during ATTACK MODE.

mexico-city-photo-finish

The German rookie fought hard and the Brazilian veteran wouldn’t give him a moments peace. Heading into the final lap, almost 40,000 fans saw the most dramatic finish in Formula E history, with Wehrlein holding fast to the last, before running out of usable energy after the final turn – allowing di Grassi to slip by right as they crossed the line.

Da Costa, Mortara, d’Ambrosio and Lotterer all followed di Grassi through, with the German distraught with an eventual sixth. Such are the margins in Formula E.

Season 5, Round 4, Mexico City (FULL RACE) - gated

Season 6: Mitch Evans and Jaguar's dominant drive

Porsche's Andre Lotterer asserted himself with a maiden Julius Baer Pole Position for the Stuttgart marque, though the experienced campaigner was outdone by Jaguar Racing's Mitch Evans off the line - the Kiwi squeezing the German to pinch the race lead at Turn 1.

Evans fended off Nyck de Vries and Buemi and aced the restart after a shunt for Nico Mueller (DRAGON) saw the Safety Car called into action. Lotterer, and de Vries slid down the order, with the two coming together and compounding their strife.

DS TECHEETAH teammates Vergne and Da Costa came into the fray at the mid-way stage, and entered into battle with the recovering Mercedes-EQ of de Vries and Envision Virgin Racing's Robin Frijns. The pair were gifted fourth when de Vries' car gave up on activating FANBOOST - the mechanical failure seeing him smash into Dutchman Frijns and take both out of the running.

Season 6, Round 4, Mexico City (FULL RACE) - gated

From there, the DS duo hunted in packs and set about chasing third-placed Buemi. With 10 minutes to go, Da Costa made a move stick and went after Bird and leader Evans. Inside the last five minutes and Bird let a sure podium slip through his fingers, slipped wide onto the dust at Turn 3 and smashing into the barriers before limping to retirement at Turn 13.

Evans cruised to take a dominant victory, four seconds clear of Da Costa with Buemi securing his first points of the season with silverware and third spot.

Momentum key for Porsche in Rome after first Formula E victory

Season 8: Porsche's first Formula E win

A weight was lifted at German giants TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team following its first ABB FIA Formula E World Championship victory in Mexico City.

READ MORE: Eight of the best Formula E races, chosen by YOU!

Pascal Wehrlein led home a dominant Porsche one-two at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez from teammate Andre Lotterer, with the team inflicting an extra lap on the field with just a couple of seconds remaining on the clock. Porsche's perfectly calculated strategy yielded double silverware and both Wehrlein and the outfit's breakthrough in electric motorsport. 

R3_S8_RR_THUMB

Having entered Formula E back in 2019/20, Porsche had long been chasing that elusive first win, despite coming close on a number of occasions. The brand's name and sporting heritage weighs heavy and expectations are inevitably high as to the Stuttgart team's results. 

With two previous shots at the win in Mexico itself, both of Wehrlein's efforts at a maiden victory had also been thwarted - one by a devastating finish line overtake by then-Audi driver Lucas di Grassi in 2019 and another thorough disqualification in Puebla in 2021 - the closest Porsche had come. But 2022 would be their year. 

Season 9: Dennis decisive in first GEN3 victory

In far more recent history, eventual Season 9 World Champion Jake Dennis got things off to the best possible start with in the GEN3 era with victory in Round 1 from Mexico City. 

dennis

That win kicked off a trend that would prove to ring true in Season 10, too, as Dennis drove to the title, so did Porsche's Pascal Wehrlein after more heroics from him in Mexico in 2023/24.

Season 10: Pascal Wehrlein the Mexico City master

Wehrlein notched Julius Baer Pole Position and strode to a commanding victory in Mexico last season - the last time, in fact, a polesitter drove to the race win in Formula E and some 16 races since.

The reigning champ's record in the Mexican capital is as good as it gets. Two wins, including his very first in Formula E back in Season 8 while driving for Mahindra Racing, to go with three Julius Baer Pole Positions another podium and the best average qualifying position of any driver on the current grid at 2.4.

Pascal Wehrlein 2024 Hankook Mexico City E-Prix highlights

SCHEDULE: Where, when and how to watch or stream the 2025 Mexico City E-Prix Round 2

Free Practice 1: Friday, 10 January, 17:00 local/13:00 UTC
Free Practice 2: Saturday 11 January, 07:30 local/01:30 UTC
Qualifying: Saturday 11 January, 09:40 local/03:40 UTC
Race: Saturday 11 January, 14:00 local/07:00 UTC

View the full schedule in your time zone and check the broadcaster listings or tap the Ways to Watch button above to find out where to watch all the racing action where you live.

Find out more

CALENDAR: Sync the dates and don't miss a lap of Season 11

FOLLOW: Download the Formula E App on iOS or Android

WATCH: Find out where to watch every Formula E race via stream or on TV in your country

SCHEDULE: Here's every race of the 2024/25 Formula E season

HIGHLIGHTS: Catch up with every race from all 10 seasons of Formula E IN FULL