Round 4 of the 2025-26 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship saw 20 drivers take to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit for the first double-header weekend on the calendar. Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein sealed the victory in his 100th E-Prix, timing his PIT BOOST and ATTACK MODE perfectly to head home Mahindra Racing’s Edoardo Mortara and Jaguar Racing’s Mitch Evans.

Qualifying

A first Julius Baer Pole Position since Berlin 2024 for Mahindra Racing came on Friday, thanks to Edoardo Mortara around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Despite small contact with the wall during his Final Duel run, he managed to claim first place on the grid ahead of DS PENSKE’s Maximilian Guenther.

Group A:

Edoardo Mortara set the fastest time of the first group, going top with a time of 1:17.378. The Mahindra driver was joined in the Duels by Norman Nato, Nico Muller (who finished second but had a lap time deleted and moved down to third) and Jean-Eric Vergne. Championship leader Nick Cassidy was forced to abort his lap and qualified down in seventh, behind Jake Dennis (Andretti) and Nyck de Vries (Mahindra) in fifth and sixth.

Group B:

Pascal Wehrlein led the way in the second group, followed closely by Antonio Felix da Costa, and the two DS PENSKEs of Maximilian Guenther and Taylor Barnard.

Despite topping the timesheets in Free Practice 2, Dan Ticktum failed to get into the top four in his group and was joined by reigning World Champion Oliver Rowland in the knockout zone.

Quarter Finals:

The first battle took place between country-men, Jean-Eric Vergne and Norman Nato. With three Quarter Final Duel appearances between the two this season, neither have won a duel to proceed to the Semi Finals. However, it was Nato who came out on top, progressing through to the next stage of qualifying.

Following the pattern of compatriots battling against one another, it was a battle of the Swiss in the second Quarter Final duel with Nico Muller taking on Edoardo Mortara. Although Muller claimed his first pole in Miami, Mortara went through to the next stage of qualifying.

Maximilian Guenther made his first Duel appearance of the season, despite starting in the top-10 in Mexico and Miami. Having claimed pole here last year, Guenther made it into the Semi Finals against Antonio Felix da Costa, who won from pole the first time Formula E raced in Saudi Arabia back in 2018.

The last Quarter Final duel saw Taylor Barnard take on Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein. Despite Barnard having the highest career Duel win percentage among drivers, it was Wehrlein who set the better lap and progressed on.

Semi Finals:

Nato made his second Semi Final appearance since the beginning of last season, however, he wasn’t able to beat Edoardo Mortara who set the faster lap of the two to go through to the Final of the Duels for Round 4.

The second Semi Final saw history repeat itself, with the duo of Guenther vs Wehrlein having faced off in last year’s Final Duel – Guenther ended up taking pole and then going on to win the race, with the DS PENSKE driver setting  the faster lap again this time round and progressing through to the Final.

Final:

A nine-race streak of pole positions for Porsche and Jaguar TCS Racing Powertrain was brought to an end by this final, as Maximilian Guenther took on Edoardo Mortara. Mahindra’s last pole as team or powertrain supplier was Mortara’s pole back in Berlin in 2024, whilst Guenther was also seeking his first points since the opening round in Sao Paulo.

Despite some minor contact with the wall, Mortara emerged victorious to start from the all-important P1 slot. 

Race

After Nyck de Vries’ stricken Mahindra was removed from the initial grid, the light extinguished on the first double-header race of the season, with Edoardo Mortara losing P1 immediately to the other front-runners. Guenther moved into the lead of the race going into Turn 1, with Nato, Barnard and Wehrlein close behind – Mortara found himself down in fifth just ahead of the second Porsche of Nico Mueller.

Lap 2 saw a Full Course Yellow deployed as a result of Pepe Marti sweeping in front of Zane Maloney – the Lola Yamaha ABT suffering race-ending damage that required the Safety Car to neutralise racing.

Racing resumed on Lap 4 with Guenther leading the field back up to racing speed. Wehrlein managed to move up the pack with a move on Barnard for third place heading down to the final chicane at the end of the restart lap.

Nato moved into the lead on Lap 6, with the race settling into a fast-paced rhythm with energy becoming less critical in part to the Safety Car. The PIT BOOST window – where cars take on a 30-second boost of extra energy – began looking likely to open on Lap 15.

The grid stayed relatively the same for the next handful of laps, before Wehrlein claimed second from Guenther heading into the Bus Stop chicane on Lap 14, with the field compressing to within 7.5 seconds. The Porsche driver then moved into the lead of the race at Turn 13.

Guenther was the first driver to go for the mandatory 50kW, all-wheel drive ATTACK MODE boost on Lap 15. He was followed on the next lap by Rowland and Eriksson, with the latter overshooting his pit box in the heat of the moment. By the end of the same lap, another half dozen of the grid had also taken to the pits for their respective stops.

On Lap 17, Barnard looked to be the provisional leader, though two thirds of the pack had yet to take to the pit lane. Out front, Wehrlein and Guenther were battling for P1, with Guenther making it by as Wehrlein took to the pits for his PIT BOOST stop at the end of Lap 18.

The provisional lead, of those who’d stopped, switched to Jake Dennis – with Barnard going for the ATTACK MODE. However, it was Guenther who was able to retain the lead ahead of Posche’s Wehrlein in second and yet to take the ATTACK. The Season 10 Champion used this to his advantage – activating his 50kW, all-wheel drive boost to pass Guenther on Lap 20.

The early ATTACK MODE activation for Guenther cost him – with the German sliding further down the order as Dennis and da Costa overtook for second and third, followed by Ticktum making it through into fourth on Lap 22. Ticktum defended hard against Barnard, however, with the DS on the ATTACK MODE overlap, the Kiro was powerless with Barnard making it by for fourth across the start/finish on Lap 23.

Wehrlein drew out a five-second lead on Dennis with da Costa, Barnard, Ticktum and Guenther the top six as it stood on that lap – all having taken their respective ATTACK MODE.

Barnard made it by Nato for third at the hairpin despite running in the standard 300kW mode – the latter having made his way up the order in ATTACK on lap 25. Lap 26 saw Mortara making use of his late ATTACK MODE activation – passing by Nato for fifth and Barnard for P4. By Turn 13, he had recovered second place and was pursuing Wehrlein, who was now seven seconds clear out-front.

A late ATTACK looked to be the better strategy with Evans next to move up the field – making it as far as third by Lap 28. Cassidy was next to move but could only make it to sixth at the end of his 50kW boost on Lap 31.

As the chequered flag fell, it was Pascal Wehrlein who claimed the victory, some eight seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Edoardo Mortara took second place ahead of Mitch Evans, with Nico Mueller finishing fourth from Antonio Felix da Costa and Nick Cassidy.