Rowland plays attack mode and Porsches in Mexico

The management of the attack mode, which has become more effective with the new Gen3 Evo since it briefly transforms the single-seater into a four-wheel drive, was predominant in this race. The different activations changed the ranking and in this little game, it was Oliver Rowland who was the strongest.

Pascal Wehrlein was on pole and retained the lead at the start, ahead of António Félix da Costa, Jean-Éric Vergne, Rowland, Jake Dennis and Maximilian Günther. These six drivers remained close, without changing positions, until some of them activated their first attack mode before halfway.

There were numerous overtakes and Dennis was able to chain them all the way to first place, overtaking Wehrlein in the stadium bends. Vergne, for his part, lost positions, facing pilots who had attack mode while his was deactivated. Félix da Costa was among those who swallowed the Frenchman, then Rowland, Wehrlein and Dennis in a few turns, taking advantage of the last seconds of his attack mode.

The second activation of the device once again turned the rankings upside down: Dennis was able to take the lead but Félix da Costa regained the advantage after having activated it in turn. Wehrlein also managed to get back in front of the Andretti driver.

While the two Porsche representatives escaped, a stop at the entrance to David Beckmann’s stadium, after contact with Lucas di Grassi, caused the safety car to intervene. The gaps were narrowed and some drivers lost their remaining time in their attack mode.

Rowland takes power

When the race was restarted, Rowland took advantage of the time remaining in his attack mode to overtake Dennis, Wehrlein then Félix da Costa quite easily…. but the safety car returned, due to an exit from track of the winner of São Paulo, Mitch Evans, after contact with an Andretti.

The Jaguar driver, then eighth, was however in a very favorable situation since he was the only one in the top 10 with still an attack mode to activate, which could have given him a huge advantage in a grouped peloton.

No one had any extra power among the leaders and the ranking did not change after the restart. Rowland thus won ahead of the Porsche drivers, with Félix da Costa second and Wehrlein third. The latter remained after a spectacular accident in São Paolo and he revealed at the start of the weekend that his helmet had hit the ground and that he had headaches for a few days, which pushed him to do a second visit to the hospital.

Dennis took fourth place ahead of Vergne and Günther. Stoffel Vandoorne, Nyck de Vries, Nico Müller and Taylor Barnard completed the top 10.

Second in the two races contested this season, António Félix da Costa takes the lead in the championship, 12 points ahead of Oliver Rowland and Mitch Evans, who both have one success and one race without points.

E-Prix de Mexico