Mexico City delivered us another classic, as fans packed out the grandstands to witness a stunning victory from Nissan's Oliver Rowland.
These are some of the biggest stories and learnings from the second round of what promises to be a season of racing you won’t want to miss!
Porsche can be stopped in Mexico
Porsche powertrains and the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez seemed like an unstoppable pairing in recent seasons. Pascal Wehrlein won here with the German giants in Seasons 8 and 10, with Jake Dennis taking a dominant victory with Andretti in Season 9.
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It looked like history could repeat itself at the weekend, with Wehrlein on pole and his teammate Antonio Felix da Costa lining up alongside him on the front-row of the starting grid. During the race, the two Porsche drivers switched positions on track, and looked comfortable for a 1-2 finish. However, behind them and Dennis in third, Oliver Rowland was lurking in fourth with one remaining ATTACK MODE activation and a desire to right the wrongs of São Paulo last time out.
After losing a potential win in the first race of Season 11 for a drive-through penalty, the Nissan driver took his final ATTACK MODE and was ready to make some moves until a Safety Car was deployed for the damaged car of CUPRA KIRO’s David Beckmann. Once the race was green flagged again, Rowland had just over a minute of his all-wheel drive – new for the GEN3 Evo era – available to make up positions, and the Yorkshireman didn’t hesitate.
He flew past Dennis for third, before passing both Wehrlein and Da Costa on Lap 31 of 36 in incredible scenes. Once in the lead, another Safety Car was deployed for the damaged Jaguar TCS Racing car belonging to Mitch Evans. Despite the best efforts of both Porsche pilots, Rowland was able to maintain the lead when we went racing for the final few laps and became the first career win for Nissan in Mexico.
Da Costa’s dream start to Season 11
Antonio Felix da Costa leads the Drivers’ World Championship standings for the first time since his championship-winning season in 2020.
REPORT: Heroic hattrick of overtakes seals victory for Rowland in Mexico City
Now two races in the GEN3 Evo era, Porsche’s da Costa has tallied up two second place finishes to put himself clear of the competition with 37 points. The closest to him as we look ahead to the Jeddah double-header is Rowland and Evans, who both have 25 points respectively for winning the races in Brazil and Mexico.
With such close competition in Formula E, consistency is key and this momentum will be a hugely beneficial boost for both da Costa and the German manufacturer.
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This success also comes a year on from the challenging start to Season 10 that da Costa experienced, with it being suggested that he could be dropped from the team if results did not improve. A win – later disqualified – in Misano, as well as four victories in five races at the end of the season certainly helped keep his name above the door for another term, and the silverware keeps coming.
No points on the board for Jaguar
After the highs of São Paulo and a victory for Mitch Evans – going from last to first – it was a different story for the reigning Teams’ World Champions in Mexico.
A technical infringement saw Nick Cassidy’s lap time deleted in the group stages, preventing him from progressing into the Duels. Starting from the very back of the grid, the Kiwi managed to make up several positions to finish 14th at the chequered flag and earn himself the ABB Engineered To Outrun Award. After post-race penalties for NEOM McLaren’s Taylor Barnard and Envision Racing’s Sebastien Buemi Cassidy was promoted to 12th, but that still means the Jaguar driver has yet to achieve any championship points this season.
After retiring in Brazil as a result of contact with Wehrlein and now a 12th place in Mexico, it’s a challenging start to the season for one of the title contenders from Season 10.
On the other side of the garage, Mitch Evans had a stronger qualifying to start fifth and had opted for an ATTACK MODE strategy that saw him save his second activation until later on in the race. Yet, the Round 1 race winner was wiped out just laps from the finish line after crashing into the back of Nico Mueller, with Evans claiming that the Andretti ‘cut out’ ahead of him.
Records continue to be broken
The record-breaking streak continues, as Pascal Wehrlein failed to convert his pole position into the win – the 17th consecutive race the polesitter hasn’t won the race. It’s a display of how competitive the grid is, and how much overtaking is possible especially with the new GEN3 Evo race cars.
Qualifying laps were also around 2.5 seconds quicker year-on-year with the introduction of the latest generation of Formula E car, and this is only the start as drivers and teams get to grips with the all-electric machines.
SCHEDULE: Where, when and how to watch or stream the 2025 Jeddah E-Prix Rounds 3 and 4
A staple on the calendar since Season 5, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, gets set to host another pair of races taking place on Friday 14 and Saturday 15 February 2025. It's our first visit to Jeddah, and will be a our first double-header event of the GEN3 Evo era.
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.
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