How Wehrlein's Diriyah double reveals Formula E's form book shake-up

By:

Jake Boxall-Legge

Jan 30, 2023, 12:23 PM

After Porsche-powered drivers locked out the top two positions to open Formula E's new Gen3 era in Mexico, the order was reversed in Diriyah. Ex-Formula 1 driver Pascal Wehrlein's factory car headed Jake Dennis's customer Andretti machine in both races under the Riyadh lights in a display that leaves little doubt as to which package currently has the edge

Subscribe to PRIME Sign in

Three races in, and there's a pattern emerging in Formula E's new era. After Valencia's pre-season testing, you'd have been hard pressed to predict that a Porsche would win the first three races of the season, given the German giant's tepid showing in December. Yet, as the rest of the field tries to gather some semblance of a pecking order, Weissach's finest has firmly become the manufacturer to beat.

The consummate ease with which Jake Dennis and Pascal Wehrlein scarpered off into the distance in the Mexico City opener was a hint of Porsche's progress around the Christmas and New Year breaks. But it was nothing more than that; Porsche had dominated proceedings at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez last season, yet failed to follow up on that in the succeeding rounds. To commandeer and butcher a phrase from footballing parlance, could Porsche do it on a cold, dark night in Riyadh?

comments

Jake Boxall-Legge

Having studied Automotive Engineering with Motorsport at the University of Hertfordshire, West Country-born Jake's original ambition was to design racing cars. During a year between studies in which he accidentally rekindled a love of writing, he took up a Master's in Motorsport Engineering at Oxford Brookes. Halfway through his master's year, he was offered a place on the Autosport Academy, conducting occasional freelance duties before becoming the press officer for Formula 2 and GP3 in 2018. Autosport offered him a return to the fold later that year to serve as its Technical Editor. His voice appears on a number of videos and podcasts, and can often be found writing about terrible Formula 1 cars in excruciating detail. In his spare time, Jake enjoys baking and blames his failure to make it past the Great British Bake-Off interviews on his tenuous grasp on choux pastry. His dream is to open a brunch cafe - and his willingness to make outrageous puns in inappropriate situations has earned him the contempt of his colleagues.

How Wehrlein's Diriyah double reveals Formula E's form book shake-up

More from Jake Boxall-Legge

Latest news

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.