The state of play heading into Formula E’s penultimate weekend in Season 12
- Vyas Ponnuri
- 1 day ago
- 8 min read
The fight for the crown in Formula E’s final year of the Gen3 era has seen as many as six different drivers emerge from five teams, all peaking at different points of Season 12 in 2026. A margin of 38 points separates championship leader Pascal Wehrlein from Mahindra’s Edoardo Mortara in sixth.
A fight that was largely based on four drivers grew to six after Formula E’s Chinese leg, with Andretti’s Jake Dennis and Jaguar’s António Félix da Costa climbing into contention after two eventful weekends in Sanya and Shanghai.
With only four races in two weekends to go until a champion is crowned, DIVEBOMB takes you through the seasons of the six in contention, recounting how they got here.
Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche) - 141 points
For the second time in three years, it looks as though Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein may be lifting his championship challenge at the right time.
The German, who looked down and out after failing to score in Sanya, found a special lap in Round 12 in Shanghai to take pole, before winning out later in the day. He looked on course to make it two in two, only for the changing weather and a chasing trio behind to shift him off the podium places.
Nevertheless, Wehrlein has remained one of Formula E’s most consistently performing drivers in 2026. He would kick off a six-race scoring run with fourth in São Paulo, following up with a sixth at the second weekend of the season in Mexico City.
A first podium of the season would follow in the wet conditions in Miami, before Wehrlein nailed his Pit Boost strategy to open up a gap of nearly seven seconds to the rest in Round 4 in Jeddah. Despite Mortara in Mahindra closing in, the Porsche man would seal a first win of the season by 2.6 seconds.
He would back up his win with another points score, before an opportunistic last-lap pass on Cupra Kiro’s Dan Ticktum in Jarama earned him yet another podium appearance, this time behind the Jaguar duo.
A special home weekend would bring Wehrlein’s first non-scoring weekend of the season, though, as he only finished 19th after mid-race contact with Dennis left him with a puncture. However, as it goes with double-headers, Round 8 on the following day would bring him better results, as he finished third on the road.
Monaco, though, marked Wehrlein’s toughest weekend of the year. Qualifying fifth for Round 9, he would run ahead of teammate Nico Müller before a costly misjudgement from the Swiss driver into Rascasse saw him knock Wehrlein’s rear wing over.
Trundling around with no rear wing for an entire lap, he would only finish 18th, before running a largely anonymous race the following day to finish 11th, continuing Porsche’s difficult run of form in the Principality.
Starting seventh for the Sanya E-Prix in June, Wehrlein would lose out on an excellent opportunity to close in on his fellow championship contenders. Running fourth in the race, he would make contact with Nissan’s Norman Nato in Turn 3, copping a five-second penalty for the same.
This would drop him to 14th, making it the first time all season that none of the top four scored points. A stellar Shanghai double header has brought him back into the forefront, once again.
DIVEBOMB’s verdict: Class of the field so far, despite a couple of blots on his notebook. With Wehrlein’s ability under pressure, the German looks to be the same version that triumphed in Season 10 back in 2024. It’s arguably his championship to lose.
Mitch Evans (Jaguar) - 132 points
If Jaguar and Mitch Evans could aim for the best parting gift, it would be a world championship. A fitting end to the season for Formula E’s nearly-man.
In contrast to the previous campaigns, Evans has ensured he stays ahead of the competition this time around, rather than being the chaser. That approach yielded an early championship lead, and the New Zealander held on to it for several rounds midway through the season.
The manner in which Jaguar turned around their season proved remarkable. After two non-scores in São Paulo and Mexico City, Evans nailed a stellar switchback move on race leader Müller to win in Miami.
He would back up this result with another podium in Round 4 in Jeddah, before finishing seventh in the following day’s race. An excellent drive from 16th on the grid in Jarama would see him finish second on the road, with Jaguar instructing Evans to stay behind teammate António Félix da Costa onto the final lap.
Despite his frustration, Evans would find valuable ground in the Berlin double header, scoring points in both races. The hallmark of his weekend would be a comeback drive from 17th on the grid to win, as Evans saved a set of new tyres going into the race from qualifying to be able to execute this drive.
Another strong weekend in Monaco set him up as a firm championship contender, as Evans finished runner-up to Nyck de Vries in Round 9, before coming home in fourth, and leaving the Principality with 30 more points.
However, a failure to score in Sanya due to a rear wing issue, before a non-start in Round 13, cost Evans dearly, with Wehrlein wresting away the lead in the standings, leaving Evans the hunter once again.
DIVEBOMB’s Verdict: Evans looked to be on a contrarian approach this time around. However, Jaguar and Evans haven’t nailed the aspect of late-season pressure all through their years, and will need a special showing in Tokyo and London to claim a Formula E title this time.
Oliver Rowland (Nissan) - 114 points
Now, we come to a driver whose season has left everyone scratching their heads. For much of his title defence, Nissan’s Oliver Rowland has banked on being at the front and scoring podium finishes to stay in contention.
This approach worked strongly early in the season, with the Briton’s six rostrum appearances still the highest of any driver this season, including a special win in Monaco. However, even for a driver with such success, he has remained significantly further behind the championship leader.
Up until Round 13 in Shanghai, Rowland had scored no result in the top 10, apart from his podium appearances. However, it was the mistaken gamble in Miami, the difficulty in extracting pace in Jeddah and Jarama, and a late crash in Sanya that cost the reigning champion several points over the course of the season.
He would make his way up to eighth in Shanghai, a late stop to change onto a new set of tyres bringing him valuable points to add to his title charge.
Rowland now comes to Tokyo, where he hasn’t finished outside the top two at all, and scored pole in every race around the Japanese capital. It certainly serves as cause for optimism, and maybe the crucial boost Rowland’s campaign needs at the right time.
DIVEBOMB’s Verdict: Speedy on his day, but those days have come few and far in Season 12 for Rowland. However, a replica of his 2025 weekend in Tokyo could set him up superbly for the season finale in London. And when Rowland is on song, he’s been difficult to stop, as has been the case multiple times in Season 12.
António Félix da Costa (Jaguar) - 111 points
For much of the 2026 season, da Costa has been a major contender for the title, before a few difficult results left him behind in this fight. However, a strong Chinese leg of the season has put him back into contention once again, with four races to go.
Much like Evans, he too would be a victim of Jaguar’s slow start to the season, before recovering to finish seventh in Miami despite tipping Felipe Drugovich around. A late charge to fifth in attack mode in Round 4 propped him up, before back-to-back wins in Jeddah’s Round 5 and Jarama cast him as a major figure in the fight for the title.
His performance would take a dip in Berlin, while a late incident at the chicane with Ticktum in Monaco cost da Costa a potential top-four finish. The following day’s Monaco race would see him come strong, though, finishing on the podium despite being tipped into a spin at the chicane.
Da Costa would suffer a five-second penalty for an earlier incident with Nato in Sanya, dropping him off the podium. However, he would still finish fourth, and would later score second in Round 12 at Shanghai two weeks later.
DIVEBOMB Verdict: Despite his consecutive wins earlier in the year, da Costa arguably faces the toughest challenge of the top half in the title battle. The Portuguese driver has never fully cemented his weight on the championship, or strung together a consistent run of form all through.
Coming across London and Tokyo, two weekends where he hasn’t fared too well, da Costa will have to put in a special performance if he is to win the title in Season 12
Jake Dennis (Andretti) - 109 points
Having won the season opener in São Paulo for his first win since Season 10, Andretti and Dennis emerged as the ones to beat early in the season.
Fifth in Mexico City only backed up the promise Dennis had shown all season. However, despite scoring points five times in the next six races, the Briton couldn’t match the same results as the aforementioned contenders. A penalty in Monaco also demoted him from sixth to 12th, costing him valuable points.
However, it all turned around for the Season 9 champion in Formula E’s Asian leg. A near-perfect showing in Sanya brought Dennis a total of 28 points, injecting new life into his season. Another podium in Shanghai put him right in the midst of the battle, even though he finished outside the points in Round 13.
Much like Wehrlein, Dennis has been a remarkable driver under pressure, and it’s easy to overlook his championship-winning season in 2023. With Tokyo expected to be on the hotter side this weekend, expect the Andretti cars to be in the mix once again.
DIVEBOMB’s Verdict: A driver of remarkable class, Dennis knows what it’s like to spring a late-season charge. His win in Sanya and the comeback in Shanghai reprised similar shades to his championship-winning Season 9, and there’s no doubt the Andretti man will still fancy his chances of winning the title even if he sits 32 points off the lead today.
Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra Racing) - 103 points
It’s almost difficult to forget that Mortara once led the championship, following Round 7 in Berlin. Back then, the Swissman was on 87 points, and had just finished a strong fourth on the road, with points in all but one race.
However, as good as his qualifying pace has been, the Mahindra man hasn’t been able to convert any of his three poles into race victory. A poor start in Jeddah pushed him onto recovery mode, as he secured second, while he would fall short in Round 5 in Jeddah and Round 7 in Berlin on pace.
Mortara has failed to score any points since he finished fifth in Monaco. An unlucky retirement in Sanya caused by debris striking his extinguisher kill switch, and a poor double header in Shanghai has left him chasing more ground than he would have liked.
It’s firm that Mortara still has a chance at winning the title for Mahindra; however, it remains an outside chance at the moment.
DIVEBOMB’s Verdict: It’s almost surprising how Mahindra started the season with optimism, and Mortara remained one of the drivers to beat in both qualifying and race trim early in the season.
Yet, the Mahindra man hasn’t been able to bring the big results at a critical stage of Season 12, and now stands a chance of being alienated from the top five in the title battle if he doesn’t find a big result in Tokyo.
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