Andretti driver Jake Dennis took advantage of an early error from Lucas di Grassi to take the lead of the Mexico City Eprix and never look back, starting the 2023 Formula E season with victory.
Dennis’s win was the first in the new Gen3 car introduced for the 2023 season. Pascal Wehrlein finished second over seven seconds behind Dennis, with Di Grassi taking the final spot on the podium in third.In the earlier qualifying duels, Mahindra’s Lucas di Grassi had secured pole position by defeating Andretti’s Jake Dennis in the final. When the lights went out, Di Grassi held the lead into turn one, while McLaren driver Jake Hughes challenged Dennis for second place. Dennis held on to his position while Di Grassi led the opening lap of the race and the championship.
Robin Frijns pulled off the circuit after he clattered into Norman Nato ahead of him, causing terminal damage to his own car. The Safety Car was deployed on the second lap while Frijns’ car was cleared, with it later being confirmed that Frijns had suffered a broken wrist in the collision. As the green flags flew at the start of lap six, Sam Bird immediately reported a drive failure on his Jaguar, pulling off the circuit at the end of the pit exit. The Safety Car was then deployed for a second time.
The race finally got back underway at the start of lap ten, with Di Grassi leading from Dennis and Hughes. As the field began lap 12, Di Grassi made a mistake at the first corner which allowed Dennis to pull alongside and take the lead into turn three. On the next lap, Dennis took his first Attack Mode and retained the lead, Hughes took a two minute Attack Mode while Di Grassi took just a single minute for his first Attack Mode, with all three retaining their original positions after their Attack Modes had expired.
On lap 18, the Safety Car was deployed for a third time when Edoardo Mortara spun off at the first corner, crashing his Maserati into the barriers. There were only 15 laps remaining when the race resumed on lap 21, with Dennis leading ahead of Di Grassi and Hughes still in third.
Hughes took his second Attack Mode, dropping third to Pascal Wehrlein’s Porsche, before Wehrlein gained another place when he passed Di Grassi entering the stadium section on lap 29. Despite Wehrlein moving up to second, Dennis was looking comfortable out front, pulling a gap of over four seconds to the Porsche driver ahead.
As the final laps of the original scheduled distance ticked away, race control announced that five additional laps would be added to the race due to the volume of laps run under Safety Car. With the majority of the field sitting at around 15% energy remaining, energy saving would be critical to the end of the race.
Di Grassi came under intense pressure for third place from Hughes, while Andre Lotterer attacked the McLaren driver ahead. Dennis continued to grow his lead over Wehrlein out front and managed his remaining energy to take the chequered flag. Wehrlein finished seven seconds behind in second place, while Di Grassi held onto the final podium position in third.
Lotterer passed Hughes on the penultimate lap to take fourth place, with Sebastien Buemi crossing the line sixth in the Envision. Antonio Felix da Costa was seventh ahead of Mitch Evans, with Nick Cassidy and Stoffel Vandoorne completing the top ten.
2023 Mexico City Eprix race results
| Position | Driver | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jake Dennis | Andretti |
| 2 | Pascal Wehrlein | Porsche |
| 3 | Lucas di Grassi | Mahindra |
| 4 | Andre Lotterer | Andretti |
| 5 | Jake Hughes | McLaren |
| 6 | Jean-Eric Vergne | DS Penske |
| 7 | Antonio Felix da Costa | Porsche |
| 8 | Mitch Evans | Jaguar |
| 9 | Nick Cassidy | Envision |
| 10 | Stoffel Vandoorne | DS Penske |
| 11 | Max Gunther | Maserati |
| 12 | Sebastien Buemi | Envision |
| 13 | Oliver Rowland | Mahindra |
| 14 | Nico Muller | Abt |
| 15 | Sacha Fenestraz | Nissan |
| 16 | Sergio Sette Camara | Nio |
| 17 | Dan Ticktum | Nio |
| Ret | Norman Nato | Nissan |
| Ret | Edoardo Mortara | Maserati |
| Ret | Robin Frijns | Abt |
| Ret | Rene Rast | McLaren |
| Ret | Sam Bird | Jaguar |
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Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
14th January 2023, 21:21
The post-race happenings are still a complete clown show complete with additional stages apparently set up for no reason, golf carts ferrying drivers and people waiting hours for parts of the audience to find their way in front of the saddest little excuse for a podium.
JC
14th January 2023, 22:16
The new Gen3 car looks great. Just need the circuits to let them stretch their legs now, given it was hard to put the power down this weekend even!
thegamer23
14th January 2023, 22:25
Solid debut.
No major troubles or reliability issues despite the worries.
Cars looks faster & smaller, some good scraps in the second half of the race and the added laps in case of SC worked pretty good.
Not a classic, but a solid foundation to build on and get better race after race.
Good to see the Stadium packed with fans.
superman
14th January 2023, 22:39
Great race for a first with new regs.
Cars look fast and challenging.
Series reminds me of F1 from the 80s/90s when it was a bit more fun and relaxed.
No doubt, give it another couple of evolutions and they will be getting close to F1 laptimes.
Yaboy
15th January 2023, 9:29
It was fine there were some good scraps up front the middle pack was fine as well the back was average the race could have been decent if not for so many safety cars but overall it was fine 6/10 solid but that’s about it plus F1 talent>FE talent I’m only saying that because of the planetF1 article with Oli Rowland saying this grid is better then F1 but I bet Yuki would dominate the whole field in FE
thegamer23
15th January 2023, 9:41
F1 has more peak talents, but generally FE drivers are really good, just look at their junior categories CV.
Imre (@f1mre)
15th January 2023, 13:14
I wouldn’t bet Tsunoda dominating this field. I am not sure any one F1 driver would dominate. This is a very strong field full of talents. And the cars are generally the same. You have to beat all competitors every race. Not “just” that 3 or 4 that are in your car’s league.
kpcart
15th January 2023, 12:48
I was impressed by this event. The cars look obviously much faster, they look cool, the crowd was very big. Great drivers and great racing. The lack of engine sound I am used to now just like when got used to F1s change in 2014. Very positive for the future, this race made me think that F1 is in risk of becoming out dated in as little as 5-6 years. Look how quick EVs are taking over on fast road cars…
zomtec (@zomtec)
15th January 2023, 16:47
FE is heavier that F1, has less than half the power and would require a recharging nap to complete a grand prix distance.
To increase power or range you have got to add more weight.
Is F1 out dated? Of course.
Will FE outperform F1? Don’t think so.
Forza@Monza
16th January 2023, 8:44
Solid first race of new season, new cars look great and much faster (even if they are not).
Give it a couple of races to tweek the software and we are in for a great show. I think it is time to book tickets for Berlin.
For me the big question mark is the tires – these cars could really benefit from more mechanical grip from some proper rubber… but it will probably not happen due to environmental focus.
BTW. Racefans, you got JEV and Buemi switched in the Race Result standings ;)