The electric stats from Formula E’s weekend of surprises in Shanghai
- Vyas Ponnuri
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
Formula E threw down surprise twists and turns over the course of the Shanghai E-Prix double-header, with veterans returning to the front, and a major contender strengthening his bid to win the title with a stellar showing.
The quartet fighting for the title has now grown to six drivers, with Jake Dennis and António Félix da Costa securing podiums across the weekend and building on their showings in Sanya. The second race of the weekend saw newer figures, including veterans breaking their long-standing podium ducks in the championship.
But in a weekend of several surprises and twists in the tale, relive all the electric stats from Formula E’s pair of races in Shanghai.
Let’s start from the obvious. Lola’s Lucas di Grassi took his first win of Season 12, and the team’s first-ever victory in the championship.
The Brazilian also broke a run of 1435 days without a victory, the longest for any driver on the grid today. Only Mahindra’s Edoardo Mortara comes close to this figure, with 1421 days since his last race win in Seoul in Season 8.
In what comes as a poetic moment for the Brazilian driver, he took victory in his first race on Chinese soil, back in 2014 in Beijing, the first-ever Formula E race to be held, and his final race in China in Season 12.
Di Grassi also becomes the first Brazilian to win a Formula E race since he did back in London in 2022. He has also matched Jean-Éric Vergne, Sam Bird, Sébastien Buemi and António Félix da Costa’s accomplishments of winning a race in each of Formula E’s generations of cars (Gen1, Gen2 and Gen3).
The second race of the Shanghai weekend also delivered a first-time pole-sitter in Felipe Drugovich. With di Grassi winning, it also marked the first time since the 2017 Montreal E-Prix that a Brazilian has taken pole, as well as won the E-Prix. On that day, it was di Grassi who accomplished both.
Di Grassi’s win from 19th on the grid is also the lowest starting position for a race winner in Season 12. He beats Mitch Evans’ record of winning from 17th on the grid in Berlin, and along with Nick Cassidy in Mexico City, remains one of the three drivers to win a race from outside the top 10 in 2026.
Only two Formula E races have been won from further back on the grid, with Evans winning the São Paulo E-Prix in Season 11 from 22nd on the grid, while Cassidy won the 2025 Berlin E-Prix from 20th on the grid.
Di Grassi also broke Formula E’s record for the oldest race winner, at 41 years and 328 days old. He surpassed the record set by Sam Bird, who was 37 years and 67 days old when he won the São Paulo E-Prix in 2024.
With both Pascal Wehrlein and Lucas di Grassi winning out in Shanghai in 2026, it marks a total of six different winners in six races at the Chinese venue ever since it hosted the all-electric championship.
Di Grassi’s victory also makes him the ninth different winner in Season 12, surpassing the figure of eight winners in Season 10 and 11 respectively. It matches the figure from Season 8, which also had nine different winners, while Season 7 in 2021 had a total of 11 drivers step onto the top of a Formula E podium.
With Lola now on the podium, it means nine out of the 10 teams have scored a podium in Season 12, and DS Penske remains the sole exception from this list. A total of 15 drivers have scored podiums in 2026, with only Dan Ticktum, Max Günther, Taylor Barnard, Norman Nato and Zane Maloney yet to score any podiums this season.
With his pole position, Andretti’s Felipe Drugovich became the first rookie to take pole in Season 12, and the first since Taylor Barnard back in Jeddah in 2025.
Coming to the driver who finished second, Citroën’s Jean-Éric Vergne took his first podium of Season 12, and the first for his new team. Vergne also broke a season-long duck of not finishing on the podium, with his last rostrum appearance coming at the 2025 Berlin round.
The Frenchman also shares a podium with di Grassi for the first time since the 2021 New York E-Prix, when he finished second and the Brazilian, then driving for Audi, finished third.
Third in the race went to Envision’s Joel Eriksson, who took his first podium in the championship, and the first by a Swedish driver since Felix Rosenqvist at the 2018 Marrakesh E-Prix.
With Eriksson now taking a podium, 19 out of the 20 full-time drivers in Season 12 have scored at least one Formula E podium, with Lola’s Zane Maloney the only one yet to stand on the podium in the championship.
Formula E's podium from Round 13 also marks the first instance of all three drivers on the rostrum starting 17th or lower on the grid and finishing on the podium.
Eriksson’s teammate, Sébastien Buemi, finished fifth in the Shanghai E-Prix. This race also marked the first time Formula E’s Gen1 era champions finished in the top five since the 2019 Berlin E-Prix, when the trio stood on the podium.
Eighth in the race went to Nissan’s Oliver Rowland, with his record of either scoring a podium or scoring no points coming to an end in Season 12.
DS Penske’s Max Günther finished both Shanghai races in the points, continuing his run of always leaving a race weekend in China with points in his career.
Round 13 in Shanghai saw both Mahindras of Mortara and Nyck de Vries finish down in 16th and 18th, failing to score points in a round for the first time in Season 12. This marks the first time since the 2024 Berlin E-Prix that saw both drivers take the chequered flag outside the top 15.
Earlier in the weekend, Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein took pole, before converting it into race victory in Round 12. This was the first time since the 2024 Mexico City E-Prix that the German converted his pole into victory. It was also Porsche’s first win around the Shanghai International Circuit.
Wehrlein also took his 10th race win for Porsche. Only a handful of drivers have won more races for a single constructor in Formula E; Evans with 16 wins for Jaguar, di Grassi with 12 wins for Audi, Buemi with 12 wins for Renault e.DAMS outfit, and Vergne with 10 victories under the Techeetah/DS Techeetah nomenclature.
Cupra Kiro’s Pepe Martí also left Shanghai with no points. This was the first weekend since the season opener in São Paulo that saw the Spanish driver leave an entire weekend without scoring any points.
As for the ever-consistent Nick Cassidy, the Citroën man has now failed to score points for the fourth race in a row. This is his longest non-scoring streak since Season 8, when Cassidy failed to score at Berlin, Jakarta and Marrakesh respectively.
Additionally, Cassidy has only scored points in five out of the 13 rounds this season. This marks a sharp drop from his last three seasons, when he scored points in 10 or more rounds in each campaign, racing for Envision and Jaguar, respectively.
Finally, there is something in this column for Jaguar’s Mitch Evans, with Round 13 in Shanghai being only the second race the New Zealander has failed to start in his Formula E career. The only other race is the Tokyo E-Prix from 2025, with Evans suffering a massive incident in qualifying that rendered his car irreparable before the race start.
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