The newly crowned Formula E World Champion Jake Dennis shared some of the emotions going through him after winning the title on his home soil.
Photo credit: Formula E Media Bank / Simon Galloway
What a season it’s been for Jake Dennis! The 2023 Formula E World Champion has put a phenomenal performance this year, clenching the title away from Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy in the penultimate race of Season 9. Collecting 213 points across 15 rounds, Dennis shed some light on his race and the emotions that come with winning his first FE title.
As he said after the race: “We crossed the line, we became the world champion, and it’s just a relief. Something I’ve never experienced ever in my life. To become the world champion is something which we all dream of. The level what me, Mitch and Nick have worked at this year is so high, you know.
You do a good lap and they’re just on your tails or you’re just ahead of them and it’s been relentless between us three this year and, we took it right down to the wire. But I’m thankful I can sleep tonight! Enjoy tomorrow, no stress, and just drive around and have a bit of fun because Rome and here have been intense.”
In order to win the title today, Dennis had to finish third overall to have enough points to be out of reach for the two Kiwis from Auckland. He was capable of staying out of the trouble (despite the trouble waiting left, right and centre on track) and with Da Costa receiving a three minutes penalty (yes, three minutes), Dennis finished in P2 ahead of Buemi who was promoted to P3.
When asked about if he had any communication with the team during the race about the situation on track and his own perspective on it from under the visor, he said: “Honestly not a huge amount (of comms with the team). I asked where do I need to finish because I knew Nick was out and they were like: third.
And I was really thrown off by that, because I thought I just needed six points. And they were like: No, if Mitch wins, he’s back in it. So I was like I’ve got to get in there. I still need to somehow finish on the podium. I was fifth at that point, so I couldn’t believe it when they said that to me.
From that point, they just sort of left me to it. Apart from maybe the last lap, where they were like: “Okay, this is enough. That’s two laps. Don’t do anything stupid. This is fine.” Before that, there was so many other things going on – dive bombs and missing attack (mode). It was just trying to keep my calm in terms of all of that and then just trying to execute a good race because obviously the further you drop back, the more you’re in the danger zone and it was a really chaotic race in terms of debris all over the circuit and trying to keep your front wing.”
There is still an ongoing fight for Constructors Championship title between Jaguar, Envision, Andretti and Porsche. Throughout the race, we could catch Dennis complaining about the drivers from the factory team of Porsche, and even Michael Andretti made his way to the TAG Heuer Porsche to discuss it with Florian Modlinger. When asked about what it means for the team to get ahead of their supplier and others in the championship, Dennis said: “For the big boys, it’s a big thing, for Michael and Roger. But then obviously for me, whatever happens tomorrow, I’ll go home a happy man. I’ll celebrate Sunday night. Whether I finish or not, I’m really not too fussed. I’m just going to really try and enjoy tomorrow. Have a bit of fun with my engineers and my mechanics.
It’s not very often you get to race at this high level in front of this many fans and your family with no pressure. And to do it when you’re a world champion is something which I don’t think I’ll ever have again. To do it with a race spare is rare. So I’ll just enjoy tomorrow. Just circulate at the back and just have fun.”
To finish off, when asked about his emotions after winning the title, he responded: “I’m just lost for words. When I crossed the line, apart from just shouting, as it wasn’t words, it was just emotions. I felt like I could hear the team when I crossed the line inside their garage. We’ve got some really passionate people inside my team.
For them, it means the absolute world to them. And to see how happy it makes them really brings so much joy. You know, it’s not just my emotions. It’s everyone else. We’ve put so much hard work into this. And it’s not just my team. It’s these guys too (Evans and Cassidy) You really get to share your ups and downs with them and to come out on top – it’s a testament to what an incredible season we’ve had and the hard work we put in.”
