After an intense race on the US soil, which topics are the most pressing rot discuss after Round 12? Let’s take a look.
Photo credit: Formula E Media Bank / Sam Bloxham
What a fantastic E-Prix Portland was! With a full house on track, there’s a couple of things we’d like to discuss after this race. Without further-a-do, let’s dig deep into lessons from Portland.
1. Have you missed the Safety Car?
It’s back in Portland! After a quite timid double-header in Jakarta, Safety Car is back in full swing in Formula E, this time twice in the race. The first SC period was caused by an unfortunate failure for Roberto Merhi in his Mahindra – where he suffered a technical issue and required recovery after getting stranded on track. The second SC was triggered by Nico Mueller, who suffered from a brake failure that launched him against the wall with an impact of 27G – after which he thankfully walked away without injuries. The race in Portland was definitely more representative e of the usual Formula E madness, and we’re honestly happy to have this madness back (as long as no one gets injured, that is).
2. Nissan’s powertrain loves Quali
Portland seen another amazing performance from b both Nissan and McLaren – especially in the qualifying session, where all four Nissan powered cars made it into the duels, and three out of four cars have started the race in Top 5. Nissan has been steadily improving their pace over the season, and with both the factory teams and McLaren drivers getting more and more experience with every race, they prove that the machinery made by the Japanese manufacturer is a force to be reckoned with, even if its sometimes only over the course of one lap. The race proved tricky for Nato, Fenestraz, Rast and Hughes, as only Nato finished in points (P9). Will they be capable of bringing the same performance over to the remaining rounds in Rome and London?
3. Tricky times turned redemption time for Jags
What panned out as a difficult qualifying for the Jaguar powered cars, quickly turned out for a lowkey redemption time for them – with Cassidy on P1, and Evans and Buemi just short of the podium in P4 and P5. Cassidy managed to take the win in Portland starting from P10, so far lowest position on the grid for him that led to a victory. In a similar style as he’s done in Berlin he chased the front, and after a few opening laps he found himself on the front of the grid. Remarkable recovery from Mitch Evans, who did not only turn 29 the day before, but who managed to bring the car home in P4 while starting from the pitlane. Buemi also managed to squeeze himself into P5, bringing Envision just 6 points short of TAG Heuer Porsche in P1 in the championship. Cassidy’s win brings him only 1 point short of Jake Dennis in P1 in the drivers championship, making the title fight even more intense with just four races to go.
4. Porsche’s solid result in Portland
How funny that both start with a P. The German powertrain manufacturer should be definitely happy with a double podium in Portland, after Dennis of Avalanche Andretti and Da Costa of TAG Here Porsche brought their cars home in P2 and P3 respectively. The whole weekend in Portland didn’t pan out the best for championship title contender Wehrlein, where he finished in P8 and only collected four points, dropping him down to P3 in drivers standings. Lotterer classified as last in Portland, making as 50/50 split for good outcomes (Dennis & Da Costa) and worse outcomes (Wehrlein & Lotterer) for the Porsche powered teams.
5. Questionable situation with DS Penske
Both of the DS Penske started the race from the pitlane, after they were penalized for…installing RFID scanning equipment at pit entry that was able to collect live data from all cars.
We’re not really gonna dwell too much into this whole topic, but to us, that just seems like an unnecessary (and frankly quite stupid) move from the team that of course was penalized – did they think that nobody will notice?
Here are our lessons from Portland E-Prix, do you think we’ve missed something important? If yes, let us know in the comments down below what your lessons from Portland were. Until next time – enjoy the race, wherever your are ✨
