Jakarta E-Prix Race Review (Round 11)
Brilliant Gunther takes a historic victory for Maserati in Jakarta
Maximilian Gunther showcased his incredible speed to take Maserati’s first single-seater race victory since Juan Manuel Fangio around the Nürburgring in 1957. Avalanche Andretti’s Jake Dennis took his second P2 trophy of the weekend whilst Jaguar’s Mitch Evans rounded out the Podium.
The Most Notable Moments
Maximilian Gunther got another good start from Pole position to remain in P1 whilst Jake Dennis got a much better start today as he remained in second place. Max Gunther entered attack mode early on and Jake Dennis managed to jump the German once he activated attack mode the following lap (Lap 5). Jake Dennis started to break early into corners whilst in the lead to save energy which allowed Mitch Evans to overtake Max Gunther into turn 1 whilst Gunther’s teammate Edoardo Mortara made a move past Stoffel Vandoorne which moved him up to 4th. However, Gunther pulled off an audacious move to re-overtake Evans for second place. However, the German wasn’t able to get past the Brit as the Andretti driver was positioning his car in all the right places. However, Vandoorne, Sacha Fenestraz and Pascal Wehrlein (who were running 5th, 6th and 7th) activated their attack mode for the second time which forced Dennis to react to keep himself ahead of them. However, Jake got held up behind Mitch Evans which allowed Max Gunther to jump back in front of the Avalanche Andretti driver. Dennis tried to pass Gunther whilst Evans was going slow at the front, but he was unable to pull it off around the outside before championship leader Nick Cassidy collided with Pascal Wehrlein near the end of the lap. Cassidy will be really disappointed with himself because the move was never on. After Jaguar’s Evans took his final attack mode of the race, the top two (Gunther and Dennis) checked out, but Andretti’s star driver couldn’t keep up with the incredibly fast German. Meanwhile, Sacha Fenestraz pulled off a great move to overtake Stoffel Vandoorne as the DS Penske dropped all the way down from 4th to 9th.
Drivers who Impressed
Max Gunther was mega quick all weekend so he deserved to take his first Formula E victory since New York in Season 7. Jake Dennis had a really good weekend in terms of Championship points whilst Mitch Evans will be happy with a podium given how bad the weekend started. The Nissan’s of Sacha Fenestraz and Norman Nato had terrific races to finish 4th and 5th respectively whilst Dan Ticktum did a good job to go from 20th to 11th in the race (even if two guys in front of him didn’t start).
Drivers who Struggled
Lucas di Grassi had yet another tough day for Mahindra (I feel like I say this nearly every race) whilst Rene Rast never looked like finishing in the points in his NEOM McLaren. Jean-Eric Vergne had a problem with his front wing which dropped him well outside the points whilst Nick Cassidy’s mistake has cost him the lead of the Formula E World Championship. Jake Hughes also had a really tough day in his McLaren whilst Sam Bird wasn’t even able to start the race which just sums up a pretty terrible weekend for the Jaguar TCS Racing driver.
Overall Race Results
Maximilian Gunther: 44:57.285
Jake Dennis: +2.822
Mitch Evans: +18.498
Sacha Fenestraz: +19.307
Norman Nato: +19.924
Pascal Wehrlein: +20.108
Antonio Felix da Costa: +20.521
Edoardo Mortara: +20.996
Stoffel Vandoorne: +26.630
Sebastian Buemi: +27.273
Dan Ticktum: +28.614
Nico Muller: +28.787
Robin Frijns: +29.125
Lucas di Grassi: +29.530
Rene Rast: +30.670
Jean-Eric Vergne: +56.598
Roberto Merhi: +1:06.645
Nick Cassidy: +1:06.879
Jake Hughes: DNF
David Beckmann: DNF
Sam Bird: DNS
Sergio Sette Camara: DNS
Drivers’ Standings:
Pascal Wehrlein: 134pts
Jake Dennis: 133pts
Nick Cassidy: 128pts
Mitch Evans: 109pts
Jean-Eric Vergne: 97pts
Teams’ Standings:
TAG Heuer Porsche: 212pts
Envision Racing: 190pts
Jaguar TCS Racing: 171pts
Avalanche Andretti: 156pts
DS Penske: 139pts
