Formula E returned to China for the first time since 2019, when they headed to Sanya for season 5 after racing in Beijing at the beginning of the series during seasons 1 and 2. The Shanghai International Circuit lines up as the 3rd Chinese track to grace the calendar, and after the weekend, it’s definitely not one to miss. With 3.051km worth of track, it was anybody’s race to win.

Practice

The Shanghai e-Prix hosted rounds 11 and 12, making it out our 4th double header of the season. Mitch Evans went quickest during our first free practice session of the weekend, setting a lap time of 1:13.215, with Sergio Sette Camara going slowest in the session with a lap time of 1:13.806, only 5 tenths off of P1. After a close Friday session, the teams lined up once again on Saturday morning for their second free practice and their last before qualifying. After a quick performance on Friday for Jake Hughes with a P4 in FP1 and a time of 1:13.281, he found himself at the bottom of the standings after FP2. With a 1:14.002, Hughes ended up 5 tenths off of Norman Nato who took to the top of the timings. Nato, setting a fastest time of 1:13.430, wasn’t the only French man to put in a quick time as DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne crossed the line to match Nato to the thousandth. Both drivers left FP2 with the same time as they headed into qualifying.

Qualifying

Group A saw DS Penske’s Vandoorne, Nissan’s Rowland and Fenestraz, Andretti’s Norman Nato, Both Evans and Cassidy from Jaguar, Envision’s Buemi, Maserati’s Gunther and Daruvala, ABT Cupra’s Di Grassi and home team ERT’s Dan Ticktum take to the grid. After 8 laps round the track, nobody could beat Vandoorne’s 3rd lap that sent him through to the next stage. Rowland, Nato and Evans joined the Belgian as they headed to the duals.

Next up was Group B with DS Penske’s Vergne who would be hoping to join his team mate in the head-to-heads. He was joined by McLaren’s Hughes and Bird, Porsche’s da Costa and Wehrlein, Envision’s Frijns, season 9 champion Dennis, Mahindra’s de Vries and Mortaram ABT Cupra’s Muller and ERT’s Sette Camara. His disappointing practice session that morning lead to a group session of dreams for Hughes as he puts the McLaren on to the top spot, promoting his way to the duals. Vergne’s desires to join his team mate would be granted as he puts it second fastest on his final lap with both Porshe’s finishing close behind to complete the 8 drivers in the duals.

Nato kicked off the quarter-finals as he went head-to-head with Rowland but with a gap of +0.068, Rowland took to the semi-finals. For the second quarter-finals, the remaining two drivers from group A took to the track with Evans making his way through to the next stage over Vandoorne. Former team mates, Vergne and da Costa, met in the third quarter-finals. With only 6 thousandths of a second between the pair, it was Vergne who emerged victorious. To finish out the quarter-finals, Wehrlein pipped Hughes with a +0.034 gap to make his way to the semi-finals.

As we headed into the semi-finals, we saw Rowland finish ahead of Evans to take him through to the final while championship contender, Pascal Wehrlein lost out to Jean-Eric Vergne. To set the front row of the grid, the Brit went head-to-head with JEV, only to miss out on pole position with a margin of 300th’s of a second.

Round 11

Vergne lined up ahead of Rowland as the chequered flag fell with Robin Frijns climbing the grid from 9th to lead into lap 3. Frijns’ lead was soon short lived as the Porsches made their move to cover the top two positions only 3 laps later. The McLarens of Hughes and Bird showed a great amount of pace in the first few laps with Sam climbing the field to find himself in P11 by the end of the third lap.

After starting the race in P13, Nyck de Vries managed to find some pace in his Mahindra as he slowly inched his way up the order. By lap 9, he’d managed to find himself in P7 and within two more laps, the Dutchman was leading the race for the first time since Berlin 2022. His reign at the top was short lived after a radio message from the team found him handing the lead to Mitch Evans who was close behind. de Vries comfortably held top 5 for the next few laps, only losing out in lap 21.

By lap 14, Jake Dennis in 8th, Norman Nato in 12th, Sam Bird in 13th and Sebastien Buemi in 19th were the only remaining drivers with attack mode to use.

Our first yellow flag of the race was shown during lap 18 for debris on track after an incident involving Guenther, Mortara and Hughes. Lap 17 saw Guenther clip the rear of Hughes, spinning him into Mortara who subsequently exited the race. Nato also drops to P21 with attack mode left to use.

Dennis goes for his final 3 minutes of attack mode during lap 22, losing out on only one place. He drops below Nick Cassidy as they battle for forth. Robin Frijns loses his car as he spins off in lap 23. After incredible pace during the opening laps of the race, both McLaren drivers sit towards the bottom of the leader board with 6 laps to go in P17 and 18. da Costa loses out on P3 to Dennis after chasing down Evans for a podium position.

Dennis continues to fight with Wehrlein for P2, allowing Cassidy to push for third while da Costa moves up the inside. As we come to the end of lap 25, Cassidy manages to get around Dennis to take P3 as Evans and Wehrlein battle for first. The German driver cuts across the grass but manages to retain his hold of P1 while the Jaguar team fight for P2. Evans moves up the inside of Wehrlein into lap 27 but doesn’t manage to make the move stick. Cassidy holds P3, keeping da Costa behind as he comes onto the radio to ask what he needs to do, to hold or race? Cassidy holds the energy advantage into the final two laps.

Wehrlein leads into the final lap as Evans goes round the outside into turn one, taking P1. Cassidy goes outside of Wehrlein, pushing for a Jaguar 1-2 as they head into the final sector. The Kiwi has over 2% more energy as he challenges for second. Mitch Evans crosses the line to win the race with Pascal Wehrlein in P2 and Nick Cassidy in P3. Rowland manages to get round Dennis and da Costa to take P4.

Practice

We headed into our final practice session of the weekend on Sunday. Norman Nato’s weekend didn’t improve following the end of the session as he finished at the bottom of the standings +1.332 seconds off of Shanghai podium finisher Nick Cassidy who topped the standings. Dan Ticktum gave the home team a session to remember Sunday morning as he went second fastest, their best finish of the weekend. Ticktum finished only 8 hundredths off of Cassidy, putting in a time of 1:13.589. Round 11 winner Mitch Evans finished practice in 5th, ahead of second place finisher Wehrlein who only took 13th ahead of qualifying.

Qualifying

Group A saw Nissan’s Rowland and Fenestraz, DS Penske’s Vandoorne, Jaguar’s Cassidy, Mahindra’s de Vries, Maserati’s Guenther and Daruvala, Andretti’s Dennis, ERT’S Ticktum and Envision’s Frijns and Buemi. After 8 total laps for the majority of the grid, it was Oliver Rowland on his 7th and final lap to be top the standings and head to the duals. The Brit was joined by Stoffel Vandoorne, Nick Cassidy and Nyck de Vries, his best qualifying of the season.

We headed into Group B next with McLaren’s Hughes and Bird, Porsche’s da Costa and Wehrlein, Jaguar’s Evans, Andretti’s Nato, ERT’s Sette Camara, ABT Cupra’s Mueller and di Grassi and Mahindra’s Mortara. After a difficult first race of the weekend and finishing bottom of the standings in practice, Norman Nato set his fastest lap of the session during his final lap and taking his car through to the duals in P4. Jake Hughes topped the timings with Antonio Felix da Costa and Mitch Evans just behind.

The first quarter-final saw Vandoorne go head-to-head with Cassidy, the Belgian driver managing to finish ahead of the championship leader by 6 thousandths of a second. Nyck de Vries managed to extend his best qualifying result as after his quarter-final against Rowland, the Dutchman solidified his place in the semi-finals. The third quarter-final saw race winner Mitch Evans meet da Costa but he narrowly missed out on the semi-finals as the Porsche driver beat the Kiwi by +0.136. The final quarter-final saw McLaren’s Hughes and Andretti’s Nato take to the track, but it was Jake who crossed the line to progress to the semi-final.

The former team mates of Mercedes EQ met in the first semi-final of the day but it was Vandoorne who top the session, 2 tenths ahead of de Vries. After the session ended, de Vries came on to the radio to say the progression to the finals from Stoffel were ‘well deserved’. The final two drivers to face each other in the semi-finals were Hughes and da Costa, but it was the British boy in orange who set the fastest lap to head through to the finals one again.

To finish off the qualifying session, Vandoorne met Hughes in the finals. With only one thousandths of a second separating the pair, it was McLaren’s Hughes who took to pole, his second of the season.

Round 12

Sundays race saw the distance cut by one lap to allow for different strategies. Although Jake Hughes had an excellent start, it was Vandoorne from second who led the race after turn one. Nato manages to get ahead of de Vries while Evans and Cassidy drop to 8th and 9th, Dennis following suit as he climbs the standings to 12th but also drops back down the standings as we come to the end of the first lap. Antonio Felix da Costa manages to get up ahead of Hughes in lap 2, dropping our pole sitter to third.

Jake Hughes goes on to start a train of attack mode as himself, Nato, de Vries and Cassidy all proceed to take it one after the other, meaning positions 3 to 6 run with the extra boost. Nato, however, took 4 minutes worth while the remaining three opt for 2. Bird, Mueller, Ticktum, Daruvala, Mortara, Frijns and Buemi all take their first round of attack mode in the same lap.

Norman Nato lines up side-by-side with Hughes as they head into the last sector but Hughes manages to hold his 4th place. Nato goes round the outside of Hughes and da Costa into turn one, moving up to second with the McLaren following suit. Vandoorne takes his attack mode, dropping just below Nato while da Costa settles into 4th. Jake Hughes and de Vries takes their second attack modes during lap 5, completing their 6 mandatory minutes by the end of lap 7. The Porsche driver of da Costa is the only remaining driver in the top 6 who hasn’t taken any of his attack mode.

Into lap 7, da Costa manages to get round the outside of Vandoorne to take second. As they cross the line and head down to turn one, Vandoorne misses out on another position to Jake Hughes as he drops to 4th. Evans drops to 9th as Vergne and Guenther manage to get ahead.

Antonio Felix da Costa leads into lap 9 before taking his first attack mode and slotting in behind Jake Hughes to run in third. Cassidy moves up to 4th to secure important points for his championship battle while Wehrlein sits in 10th. da Costa manages to climb back to P1 before taking his second attack mode in lap 11, re-joining the track in second behind Nato.

Vandoorne holds the Jaguar’s at bay as they sit in P5 and P6 while Wehrlein heads to the pits after receiving a puncture from Sam Bird. Hughes drops off of the podium as Vandoorne gets ahead. Further down the grid, de Vries goes wheel to wheel with Guenther into the last corner, both drivers making it across the line. A yellow flag is waved in lap 18 as Hughes moves up to P3 with Cassidy behind in P4, dropping Vandoorne down to 5th.

Hughes and Cassidy clash into turn 1 of lap 19, the championship leader leaving the collision with a damaged front wing. Hughes pushes around the outside of Nato, settling into P2. Bird pits and retires from the race.

As we head into the final lap, da Costa leads ahead of Hughes ahead of Nato, taking the three drivers to the podium. Jake Hughes takes to the second place step to enjoy his first ever Formula E podium.