Di Grassi takes maiden win for Lola in wet and wild Formula E Shanghai E-Prix
- Vyas Ponnuri
- 3 hours ago
- 5 min read
After 28 laps of hectic racing and several surprises, three unfancied contenders ended up on the Formula E podium in 2026. Lola's Lucas di Grassi took his first win for Lola, only four races before calling time on his Formula E career, ahead of Citroën's Jean-Éric Vergne and Envision's Joel Eriksson.
All three drivers made their way up from far down the field, with their positions made possible by being extremely efficient during their attack modes.
Further back, Porsche's Pascal Wehrlein came home to finish fourth, taking the championship lead with it, ahead of Eriksson's teammate Sébastien Buemi in fifth, rounding out an excellent day for Envision.
Pole-sitter Drugovich came home in sixth, ahead of Nico Müller's Porsche, while Nissan's Oliver Rowland finished eighth on the road, with the two Brits Taylor Barnard and Dan Ticktum taking home the final points on a chaotic day in Shanghai.
AS IT UNFOLDED - Shanghai E-Prix (Round 13)
Kicking off what was set to be a wet Shanghai E-Prix for Round 13, it was Andretti's Felipe Druogvich who took pole, by over half a second from DS Penske's Taylor Barnard. The championship picture looked interestingly poised, as Pascal Wehrlein, Shanghai's Saturday winner, qualified up in third, while leader Mitch Evans qualified outside the top 10.
With the track surface being wet and slippery, race control opted to commence the race under the safety car, with drivers going around the Shanghai International Circuit for three laps. It would be a tougher race for Evans, though, as he was already out of the race. He would not start the race at all, due to a DC/DC converter issue, according to a statement from Jaguar.
Off the five red lights, Drugovich still maintained his lead from Barnard and Wehrlein, although several drivers instantly chose to go into attack mode.
This included the likes of Barnard, Wehrlein and the two Mahindra cars of Mortara and Nyck de Vries, apart from Cupra Kiro's Pepe Martí. The other Cupra Kiro of Dan Ticktum would run wide at Turn 6, dropping further ground on the opening lap.
Wehrlein's teammate Nico Müller took six minutes of attack mode, an approach that eventually lifted him up into second on the road. With Porsche sitting up in first and second, the primary motive was for both drivers to work together, rather than fight. They both held a three-second gap to the Andretti pair of Drugovich and Jake Dennis.
Another big gainer in attack mode was Envision's Sébastien Buemi, who had ascended six places before having a close battle with Mortara through the Turns 10/11 chicane in attack mode. He sat up in sixth, with one percent more energy compared to the drivers ahead of him.
Jaguar's António Félix da Costa took six minutes of attack mode, however, he would damage the left corner of his front wing. Running alongside Nissan's Oliver Rowland at Turns 7 and 8, he would make contact with the Briton, driving around the track with the broken part. He still managed to gain positions, though, making a double overtake into Turn 7 past Buemi and Dennis to sit fourth.
With 10 laps to go, Wehrlein still led comfortably from teammate Müller, with pole-sitter Drugovich losing third to the charging da Costa, who had just run out of attack mode.
Ticktum and Joel Eriksson were the latest to take their attack modes, and climbed up into the top 10 with their four minutes of extra power. With Buemi also jumping into attack mode, the two green cars were surging past, now sitting third and fourth as the Swissman now climbed back into third.
As the track started to dry out, the likes of Rowland and Norman Nato took their first round of attack mode. Porsche reacted to the Envision charge, with Müller taking his final two minutes of attack mode. However, he wouldn't be able to slow down the two green cars, with Eriksson slipping past before Buemi followed through.
With upto three percent more energy, Eriksson easily moved past Wehrlein for the race lead, with several lesser-fancied runners such as Vergne and di Grassi in the Lola rising up to second and third in attack mode, and pushing Wehrlein down the road.
However, the full course yellow would be called out on Lap 24, due to the stricken Lola of Zane Maloney on the start/finish straight. Eriksson, who had gotten into his final round of attack mode, wouldn't be able to maximise on it. Yet, he wouldn't have been disappointed, given his margin to the rest of the field.
Race control added one lap extra to the overall race distance, now taking it to 28 laps, just as Rowland making a pit stop to change a fresh set of tyres with dry race pressures.
As the drivers trundled around in the full course yellow, di Grassi looked to be in the best position, with four minutes of attack mode yet to be taken. The drivers got back to racing onto Lap 26, with a sprint to the finish. di Grassi took his final dose of extra power.
Just as the Lola man closed in, Vergne had reduced the gap to race leader Eriksson to just three tenths of a second. All three drivers were chasing a first podium of the season.
Vergne would execute a brilliant switchback move at Turn 6, slipping past the Envision to take the race lead on the penultimate lap. However, this would be short-lived, with di Grassi taking the lead heading onto the final lap.
The Brazilian would sustain the challenge from behind, to take a maiden win for Lola, and victory in his final race on Chinese soil, ahead of Vergne and Eriksson, who took his first Formula E podium!
However, both di Grassi and Vergne are currently under investigation, for overtaking under double yellow flags, and it will be interesting to see how this plays out for the leading pair, and how this could affect their races.
An exciting 28 laps of racing in Shanghai, and here's how it all played out:
Classification - Shanghai E-Prix (Round 13)
Lucas di Grassi (Lola Yamaha ABT)
Jean-Éric Vergne (Citroën Racing)
Joel Eriksson (Envision Racing)
Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche)
Sébastien Buemi (Envision Racing)
Felipe Drugovich (Andretti)
Nico Müller (Porsche)
Oliver Rowland (Nissan)
Taylor Barnard (DS Penske)
Dan Ticktum (Cupra Kiro)
Max Günther (DS Penske)
Pepe Martí (Cupra Kiro)
Jake Dennis (Andretti)
António Félix da Costa (Jaguar)
Nick Cassidy (Citroën Racing)
Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra Racing)
Norman Nato (Nissan
Nyck de Vries (Mahindra Racing)
Zane Maloney (Lola Yamaha ABT) - DNF
Mitch Evans (Jaguar) - DNS
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