How Round 16's outcome in London affected Formula E's title fight
- Vyas Ponnuri
- 54 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Porsche's Pascal Wehrlein replicated the feat from his championship-winning Season 10, winning the penultimate race of the season at London in his quest to score a second Formula E title.
The German took victory, ahead of Andretti's Jake Dennis, who now trails his title rival by only five points after scoring his third podium in a row. Mitch Evans is the only other driver in title contention. Having finished eighth on the road, the New Zealander sits on 148 points, 21 behind leader Wehrlein, and needs a big score in Round 17 to stand a chance of a title win.
Current top three heading into Round 17
Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche) - 169 points
Jake Dennis (Andretti) - 164 points
Mitch Evans (Jaguar) - 148 points
What happened to the nine in the Formula E title fight?
Wehrlein's massive 28-point haul in Round 16 ensures he sits in the ascendancy, on 169 points. Aided by a go-slow from teammate Nico Müller in the early stages, the Porsche man opened up a three-second gap early in the race.
Despite staying out and taking his attack mode even as Evans made his pit stop, Wehrlein's quest for victory was aided by a Full Course Yellow (FCY) deployed for the stricken Lola of Lucas di Grassi, who had an incident going into Turn 9.
The intervention meant the German driver came out onto the track with a comfortable eight-second margin to the rest of the field, and the gap stabilised as Dennis attempted to close down the gap ahead and make a race out of it.
Yet, Wehrlein had done enough, winning the race by 5.7 seconds and scoring his third victory of the season. Dennis, who led the championship coming into London, finished second, as he sits on 164 points, only five behind Wehrlein thanks to a brace of important overtakes on Dan Ticktum and António Félix da Costa.
Evans, on the other hand, endured a torrid outing in London's Round 16. Stuck behind the slow-moving Müller early on, the Jaguar driver dived in early for his Pit Boost stop, before taking attack mode and moving past the second Porsche car to sit a net second on the road.
Tracking to go into the net race lead at one point, the FCY period cost Evans plenty of ground on the road, dropping him down to 10th at one point. A double overtake on a battling Nick Cassidy and Müller got him up to eighth, and he would remain there for the rest of the race.
Nissan's Oliver Rowland will not be defending his title in Season 12. The Briton, who qualified down in 13th for the race, found himself scrapping away with Envision's Joel Eriksson during the race, before making his way up to 10th on the road and scoring the fastest lap.
However, sitting 35 points off from Wehrlein, he drops out of the title fight, with only 29 points available for Sunday's Round 17.
Despite finishing third on the road, da Costa dropped out of the title fight, due to his fellow podium sitters scoring heavily and adding to their tallies ahead.
Mahindra's Edoardo Mortara qualified started the race down in 18th, after a five-place grid drop for his incident late in the Tokyo E-Prix. A steady comeback drive saw him sit fifth in the order, before a five-second penalty for brushing Ticktum out of the way at Turn 1 dropped him to seventh.
Teammate Nyck de Vries endured another difficult race, finishing only 13th on the road and dropping away from the ultimate pace as the race went on.
Porsche's Müller and Citroën's Cassidy drop out of the title fight, having remained in the race for the title mathematically.
As such, the race is now on between only three contenders, poised to head down to the closing stages of the season finale.
How can the Formula E title be won in Round 17 on Sunday
With Dennis and Wehrlein only separated by five points heading into the finale, the margin is enough to ensure that finishing first and second could swing the battle either way.
If Wehrlein wins the race, he wins the title, irrespective of where Dennis finishes. However, if both drivers finish level on points, the Porsche man will win the title on countback, due to the higher number of race victories (three victories to Dennis' two).
Keeping aside any points for pole position, this is how Dennis can win the title on Sunday's Round 17.
If Dennis finishes | Wehrlein must finish atleast |
P1 | Loses the title |
P1 + Fastest Lap | Loses the title |
P2 | P3, or P4 + Fastest Lap |
P2 + Fastest Lap | P3 |
P3 | P4, or P5 + Fastest Lap |
P3 + Fastest Lap | P4 |
P4 | P6, or P7 + Fastest Lap |
P4 + Fastest Lap | P6 |
P5 | P7, or P8 + Fastest Lap |
P5 + Fastest Lap | P7 |
P6 | P8, or P9 + Fastest Lap |
P6 + Fastest Lap | P8 |
P7 | P9, or P10 + Fastest Lap |
P7 + Fastest Lap | P9 |
P8 or lower | Wins the title |
In the event of Dennis securing pole, he reduces the gap to Wehrlein to only two points, which changes the picture of the championship fight even further. Here's how it plays out if Dennis secures pole position.
If Dennis finishes | Wehrlein must finish atleast |
P1 | Loses the title |
P1 + Fastest Lap | Loses the title |
P2 | P3 + Fastest Lap |
P2 + Fastest Lap | P1 |
P3 | P4 + Fastest Lap |
P3 + Fastest Lap | P2 |
P4 | P5 |
P4 + Fastest Lap | P3 |
P5 | P6 |
P5 + Fastest Lap | P4 |
P6 | P7 |
P6 + Fastest Lap | P5 |
P7 | P8 |
P7 + Fastest Lap | P6 |
P8 | P9 |
P8 + Fastest Lap | P7 |
P9 | Wins the title |
P9 + Fastest Lap | P10 |
P10 or lower | Wins the title |
However, if Wehrlein secures pole, he increases the gap to Dennis to eight points, in the event of this result, even finishing second may not guarantee the title. If the Andretti man only scores victory, a second place would then be enough for Wehrlein to secure the title.
If Dennis scores victory and the fastest lap, with Wehrlein finishing second, it leaves both drivers then level on points, with the winner decided on countback, and the driver having more second place finishes.
With both drivers then having three wins and a single second place finish, the winner would then be decided on who has more third position finishes, with Wehrlein then securing the title by virtue of three third-position finishes, as compared to only two for Dennis.
Here are the full permutations if Wehrlein secures pole for Round 17:
If Dennis finishes | Wehrlein must finish atleast |
P1 | Wins the title |
P1 + Fastest Lap | P2 (wins on countback) |
P2 | P5 |
P2 + Fastest Lap | P4 |
P3 | P6, or P7 + Fastest Lap |
P3 + Fastest Lap | P6 |
P4 | P8 |
P4 + Fastest Lap | P7 |
P5 | P9 |
P5 + Fastest Lap | P8 |
P6 | Wins the title |
P6 + Fastest Lap | P10 |
P7 or lower | Wins the title |
What must Evans do to win the title?
Jaguar and Evans face arguably the most improbable result that would need to go their way, in order to win the title.
Should he fail to secure pole, Evans will need to take victory, with both Wehrlein finishing eighth or lower, and Dennis sixth or lower.
If Evans is tied on points with either driver in this case, he will secure victory due to higher number of second position finishes (two to the other drivers' one runner-up position).
If Evans doesn't take pole:
If Evans finishes | Wehrlein and Dennis must finish atleast |
P1 | Wehrlein - P8 without pole or fastest lap, P10 + fastest lap if he secures pole
Dennis - P6 + fastest lap (without pole) P7 if he secures pole |
P1 + Fastest Lap | Wehrlein - P8 without pole or fastest lap, P10 + fastest lap if he secures pole
Dennis - P6 + fastest lap (without pole) P7 if he secures pole |
P2 or lower | Wehrlein wins the title |
But if Evans secures pole, and three championship points that come with it, it would take him to 151 points going into the race. The equation becomes only slightly easier. Evans can then win the title even if he finishes second, provided several results go his way.
The permutations would then read as follows, if Evans took pole.
If Evans finishes | Wehrlein and Dennis must finish atleast |
P1 | Wehrlein: P7 + Fastest Lap Dennis: P4 |
P1 + Fastest Lap | Wehrlein: P6 Dennis: P4 |
P2 + Fastest Lap | Wehrlein: P10 Dennis: P7 |
P2 | Wehrlein: Outside the points Dennis: P8 + Fastest Lap |
P3 or lower | Wehrlein or Dennis win the title |
If neither Wehrlein nor Dennis score points, Evans will then need to finish in the top two if he scores pole, or win if he doesn't start from pole, in order to be crowned champion.
In short, expect the intensity to be as high tomorrow, with the trio set to be pushing right until the end to secure the best possible result, and stay in with a chance of sealing the title.
Additionally, it becomes even closer in the constructors' fight, with Porsche now trailing Jaguar by only five points heading into Round 17, and is anyone's game. Andretti sit exactly 47 points behind Jaguar, and are out of contention for the battle.
Even if Andretti do score all 47 points and end up level on points with Jaguar, and Porsche score only four points, Jaguar would win the title on countback, with four victories compared to Andretti's three over the course of Season 12.
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