The Mexico E-Prix: A Debrief

Mexico E-Prix

The second race of the Formula E season reached Mexico on Saturday, and it was another race with shocks and surprises, with first-time winners, some teams continuing not to score, and once again a crash that needs to be spoken about, so let's dive in…

Citroen is on top, Jaguar hit rock bottom.

The big winner on race day was Nick Cassidy and Citroen, who won their second race as a new team, taking over from Maserati. Nick Cassidy merits recognition for this achievement and ought to be commended for securing victory with a new powertrain and team. Cassidy’s old squad, Jaguar TCS Racing, remained pointless after Antonio Felix de Costa was involved in a crash later in the race, and Mitch Evans finished just out of the points in 11^th. With a crash in the first race for Evans and an 11^th for de Costa in the first crash, the bad luck is catching up with Jaguar, but the season is only just getting started.

The podium was finished by Edoardo Mortara in 2^nd and last year’s drivers' championship winner, Oliver Rowland, in 3^rd. Taylor Barnard finished in 4^th after missing out on pole by a track limits penalty on the start finish line, and pole sitter, Sébastien Buemi, finished 17^th after a puncture called for an unscheduled pitstop. Championship leader, Jake Dennis, finished fifth^, keeping him still in the title fight in the early days of the season. Pascal Wehrlein finished sixth, Pepe Marti 7^th, Jean-Eric Vergne 8^th, Nico Muller 9^th, and Norman Nato 10^th.

Rookies on The Rise

Rookies have begun the season well, with both Pepe Marti and Joel Eriksson scoring their first points, Marti in Mexico and Eriksson in Brazil. With a good second season in F2, Marti has proved that he is one to watch, finishing the race seventh, with a 60-place grid penalty due to his mistake in Brazil, which caused a major crash for him and other drivers involved. He also served a 10-second stop-go penalty too, and because of was able to conserve energy and climb into the points.

Taylor Barnard also proved his first season in the Neom McLaren FE Team was not a fluke, as he almost snatched pole if not for a rookie mistake and managed to finish fourth, just shy of the podium. Zane Maloney remained pointless last year but was able to gain his first point in Brazil in the previous race. Felipe Drugovich is so far pointless, but was close to points in Brazil, but due to a late 5-second penalty, finished 12^th, and finished 15^th in Mexico.

Issues with Stewards?

Much like the big crash in Brazil, Mexico also had a noteworthy crash near the end of the race. Race winner, Nick Cassidy, reared Antonio Felix de Costa into the bottleneck at Turn 5, which led to de Costa hitting Maximilian Guenther's DS Penske, with Dan Ticktum being taken out too. This makes two out of two crashes and an unlucky streak for Dan. This was just deemed a racing incident because, as motorsport fans know, three cars into one corner does not work. Guenther had to take a wider line, and this resulted in further crashes and incidents.

This has led to Dan Ticktum being quite open as he is currently on zero points and has been the subject of two crashes, none of which are his fault, and the stewards have given out limited, if not no, penalties. This has been an issue, as there are talks of stewards not noticing things during the race and not being present. Ticktum’s point is that his performance should have earned him points, but being a passenger in crashes that have not punished many mean that other drivers may do this more, as they have no consequences. Being an FIA-sanctioned sport, like Formula 1, the issues with Stewards are an ongoing issue with consistence so hopefully we see this sorted in the future, but I do not see this conversation going away anytime soon.

Close Title fight?

After the Mexico E-Prix, Nick Cassidy's finishing position meant that he is leading the championship, with forty points, but Jake Dennis is second with thirty-six points and reigning champion, Oliver Rowland, is third with thirty-four points. While the season is in its initial stages, could we have a battle on our hands? With the end of the Gen3 Evo ending, can we expect the already tight field bunch close together? Knowing Formula E, it can be filled with unexpected battles, wins and crashes, so your guess is as good as mine. We will just have to watch to find out.

With the Miami E-Prix, a little over two weeks away, we do not have that long to wait as the session hits up once again. Will there be more shocks and surprises? I guess we will have to wait and see.

Written by Amy Powis