Winners and Losers from the Jeddah E-Prix double header
- Vyas Ponnuri
- 5 hours ago
- 11 min read
Written by Vyas Ponnuri
Formula E’s pair of races at the Jeddah E-Prix brought about plenty of interesting talking points. A much-fancied contender finally ended a painful streak, while familiar faces returned to the top step of the podium. Five winners in five races, but who are the five big winners and big misses after Jeddah? Vyas takes us through the list for this weekend…
Winner: Edoardo Mortara
If ever you could pick out one driver who emerged from Jeddah as a true winner, it would be Mahindra’s Edoardo Mortara. Sure, he may not have stood on the top step of the podium, but the double-header on the banks of the Red Sea may just have been one of his finest weekends.
Only the minor inconsistencies crept in after starting from pole in both races. An enormous bout of wheelspin off the line dropped Mortara all the way from pole to seventh, although he quickly made up two further positions to limit the damage on the opening lap.
In a race featuring Pit Boost and only one attack mode, drivers going too early for the extra power would find it extremely difficult after the pit stops. Mortara was among the last of the frontrunners to take attack mode, helping him jump ahead of several drivers, including Dan Ticktum, the DS Penske duo of Max Günther and Taylor Barnard, Norman Nato and Jake Dennis.
Utilising the last three minutes of attack mode, Mortara managed to bring the seven-second gap lead to just 2.5 seconds, in his quest for an unlikely victory. His efforts, although in vain, brought home a second podium of the season.
Round 5 brought pole once again, a fourth consecutive pole for a Swiss driver in Formula E. Despite having the best position on the grid, Mortara couldn’t convert it into victory, instead settling into the pack and coming home fourth. A challenge on podium sitters Oliver Rowland and Sébastien Buemi never materialised, with Mortara’s attack mode just running out as he caught up to the reigning champion.
Nevertheless, Mortara’s stellar haul of 36 points was the highest for any driver during the double-header, catapulting him to second in the drivers’ standings, only six points behind leader Pascal Wehrlein.
Loser: Nyck de Vries
While one side of the Mahindra garage revelled in the success of rostrums and poles, the other endured a discontent weekend when one problem snowballed into another.
Nyck de Vries found himself at the centre of attention in Jeddah — and not for a reason he would have looked forward to. The Dutchman failed to score a single point all weekend, with problems in his Mahindra leaving him with plenty to do as the weekend went on.
De Vries wouldn’t even get a chance to recover from 12th on the grid in Round 4, after being unable to get underway in his Mahindra in the grid sequence. Despite being wheeled into the pit lane, the Indian manufacturer couldn’t get his car going. De Vries was left to watch from the sidelines, with the errant part on his car noted to be an inverter.
Subsequently, Mahindra opted to change several components on de Vries car, including two MGUs and a microcontroller unit, incurring a 60-place grid drop for Round 5. Given the magnitude of the grid drop, which couldn’t be fully served, this was converted into an in-race penalty, putting de Vries completely out of the running for the second race of the weekend.
With Mahindra sitting up in the top three in the standings, both de Vries and the Indian manufacturer will be aware of minimising difficult weekends and delivering a strong package capable of fighting at the front of the field.
Winner: Antonio Felix da Costa
For the best part of the first three weekends, Jaguar’s Antonio Felix da Costa found himself firmly restricted to the footnotes on Formula E results boards. After being the unfortunate casualty in Pepe Martí’s airborne incident in São Paulo, he would be the meat in a Stellantis sandwich in Mexico City.
Miami looked to have brought respite — and potential points in favour of the Big Cat. da Costa had utilised attack mode to the best, even running up in the race lead at one point. Yet, his race would be undone once again, this time with Felipe Drugovich unable to slow down his Andretti on a damp surface.
It may have come as a massive dampener to da Costa, who was left to take home a lowly eighth position finish, especially when teammate Mitch Evans took home the race win. Da Costa had even run ahead of the New Zealander for much of the race before a satisfying move by Evans on Lap 25 swapped around the two Jaguars on track.
Jeddah brought about a change in fortunes for the Portuguese driver, though. In a weekend where patience and timing was rewarded big, da Costa executed two excellent races.
Starting sixth for Round 4, da Costa ran in the top 10 for the early part of the race, playing it cautiously until the Pit Boost stops were dealt with. He was among the first to go in for the extra power after making his pit stop, though, running in the top three mid-race. A move around the outside of Dennis at Turn 13 earned him second at the time.
Despite losing out to the likes of Mortara, Evans and Nico Müller late on, da Costa would come home fifth to take valuable points for Jaguar.
Da Costa reaped greater rewards in Round 5, though. Having qualified third this time, he managed to stay among the lead pack early in the race. The critical moment came when da Costa took the first of his attack modes on Lap 18. The offset to others at the front allowed the Jaguar man to take the race lead from Rowland on Lap 20.
Mirroring Wehrlein’s strategy from the day prior, da Costa pulled out a three-second gap to the rest, before taking his second attack mode just as those behind had started closing in. He would eventually pull out a 2.5-second gap to Buemi in second, enough to take a 13th Formula E win.
Da Costa’s 35 points were only second to Mortara’s haul across the double header, enough to lift him to seventh in the standings.
Loser: Nick Cassidy
In stark contrast to his championship contenders, Citroën’s Nick Cassidy fell short as the others took the limelight in Saudi Arabia.
On the back of a difficult Miami weekend, Jeddah presented a stellar opportunity for him to rebound and grow what had become a slim championship lead. However, Cassidy would fall well short in qualifying, beaten to the duels by teammate Jean-Éric Vergne in both races.
Despite starting down in 13th for Round 4, Cassidy delivered yet another comeback drive on the day. The turning point in his race came when he took attack mode late in the race, coming through the pack alongside the likes of Evans, Mortara and Müller to finish sixth.
He would lose his championship lead, though, as Wehrlein delivered a commanding victory, taking over top spot by 16 points to the Citroën man.
Saturday’s Round 5 would then see Cassidy make it into the duels, eventually starting eighth on the grid. Despite a better starting position, he would slide down the order, eventually running an uneventful race outside the points to come home in 14th, his second non-score in five races.
The non-score cost him further positions to Rowland and Mortara in the standings, while the French outfit slid down to fourth in the standings, sitting only three points ahead of Envision Racing and eight ahead of Nissan.
Winner: Dan Ticktum
Of course, it had to happen.
Presumably, what you would be saying if you find Cupra Kiro’s Dan Ticktum on this side of the list in 2026. Even the team celebrated, creating a special graphic to commemorate Ticktum's first race finish of the season.
In contrast to the opening three weekends, Jeddah proved to be a lot more fruitful for the Briton. Maybe topping the timesheets in FP2 served as a reminder of what was to come. Despite starting 12th on the grid, Ticktum fancied his chances.
Ticktum’s attack mode activation after the Pit Boost stops helped him climb up the order, as he ran as high as third on the road. But, despite his early ascent, he would be one of several drivers to fall by the wayside later on, as others surged ahead with attack mode. 14th wouldn’t be the ideal result, but seeing the chequered flag itself brought a massive sigh of relief.
In Round 5, Ticktum would just miss out on the duels by two hundredths of a second, leaving him ninth on the grid for the race. He would make full use of this starting slot, running in the top 10 early in the race.
Using the first attack mode, Ticktum climbed up to fourth, which eventually became second when Buemi and Mortara went into attack mode. He would lose out later in the race, though, with the likes of Rowland, Buemi and Mortara using their six minutes of attack mode to move ahead, as opposed to Ticktum’s four.
Despite sliding down to fifth, Ticktum held on to score his first points of the season, a warm welcome in a season of difficulties — even if it meant fending off teammate Pepe Martí along the way.
Loser: Cupra Kiro
Coincidentally, it was this on-track coming together between both Ticktum and Martí that leaves Cupra Kiro with a lot of work to do behind the scenes.
The moment in question came on Lap 29, the penultimate lap of Saturday’s Round 5. Both drivers had just completed their attack modes, running fifth and sixth on the road. Heading into Turn 8, Martí dived up the inside of the bus stop chicane, shaping for an overtake to move ahead.
The teammates clashed into the corner, with Martí even clattering the outside barrier at Turn 9 as he was forced out. This then led to both drivers having outbursts on team radios, before coming home and maintaining position until the flag.
Moments later, it also came to light that Martí used a racial slur on the radio after the incident, with the rookie racer calling his teammate a ‘r*****’ on the radio. The exchange went viral on X (formerly Twitter), leading to reactions from fans and pundits around.
Martí immediately apologised after the race for his words on the radio, mentioning it wasn’t the right words to use in the heat of the moment. However, this incident still leaves Cupra Kiro with a lengthy debrief after the Jeddah double header, to ensure such near misses don’t cost the team more in the future.
Winner: Pascal Wehrlein
There certainly was something special about Wehrlein and the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. The Porsche powertrain looked to be one of the strongest around this seaside circuit. Both Wehrlein and teammate Müller started up in the top eight, being touted as the favourites to win the race.
Wehrlein drove at the front of the field for most of the race, seemingly unfazed despite being passed by Max Günther’s DS Penske before the drivers activated Pit Boost. Having emerged behind the DS Penske after the round of stops, Wehrlein played his cards to perfection.
Utilising his attack mode, he moved swiftly past Günther, eventually becoming the race leader once others ahead finally came in to take their Pit Boost stops. The offset between him and the rest was stellar, with Wehrlein opening up a seven-second lead after maximising his time in extra power.
Despite Mortara’s late efforts to close down the gap, the Porsche man came home to take a first win of Season 12, one that catapulted him into a 16-point lead in the drivers’ standings.
The following day’s race wouldn’t go as well for the championship leader. Neither Porsche had made it into the duels, but Wehrlein was still able to bring himself into the points in eighth, limiting the damage to fellow championship contenders such as Mortara and Rowland.
Loser: Nico Muller
Compared to several drivers in this section after Jeddah, Müller’s weekend may have gone better than many would have expected.
Qualifying in the top eight for the race meant he was in the running for solid points on race day, and utilising a later attack mode activation meant he climbed all the way up to fourth, complementing teammate Wehrlein’s win in Round 4.
However, the subsequent day’s Round 5 simply did not go to plan for the Swissman. Qualifying down in 16th left him with plenty of work to do for the race, and in stark contrast to previous weekends, Müller’s name wouldn’t feature towards the top of the leaderboard either.
While teammate Wehrlein pulled off a points finish to ensure Porsche didn’t leave Round 5 empty-handed, Müller wouldn’t be close to the points. He would eventually finish 16th, mired down in the field and unable to make any headway from his starting position.
His first non-score of the year meant Müller dropped down to sixth in the standings. With the Jaguar outfit picking up pace in Jeddah, the onus falls on Porsche to ensure both drivers are in the mix and scoring points consistently to maintain their championship position.
Winner: Oliver Rowland
For the best part of this weekend, reigning champion Oliver Rowland may have felt things were getting away from him.
A clout with the barrier at Turn 15 in FP2, followed by a difficult qualifying session on Friday, left him down in 16th, with plenty to do if he wanted to avoid a second consecutive non-score.
Despite running close to the top 10 early on, Rowland’s strategy certainly left many scratching their heads, with the Briton taking his attack mode much later in the race compared to his rivals. He only came home down in 17th, being second last on the list of classified finishers in Round 4.
Nissan brought tweaks to the car for Saturday’s race, which then aided in Rowland’s ascent up the field. He would qualify fourth for the race, briefly leading as he traded places among the lead group of cars.
However, he would be no match for da Costa on Lap 20, with the Jaguar man easily making his way past and holding the race lead.
Rowland then focused on maximising his race position, making his way past Ticktum in attack mode to take second, before losing out to Buemi late on in the race. Despite making contact with Mortara at Turn 4, the Nissan man did enough to take his third podium of the season. This result elevated him to third in the standings, one point ahead of Cassidy.
Loser: DS Penske
From winners in 2025 to low (or no) points in 2026, DS Penske experienced one of the sharpest falls when it came to the form guide in Jeddah.
For a team already coming in off a non-score in Miami, Jeddah marked the best weekend to make up ground. Even more so when the two drivers for DS Penske were 2025’s pole-sitters in the Jeddah double header.
They nearly kept up the form in qualifying, with Günther being the losing finalist to Mortara in Round 4, while Barnard would start fifth for the race.
DS Penske even ran in the top three early in the race, but the call for Günther to take attack mode before his Pit Boost stops came at a greater cost: The German was left powerless as he dropped positions to those in attack mode later in the race.
Teammate Barnard too lost out to those in attack mode, only coming home in the final points position in Round 4.
The following day’s Round 5 would go on similar lines, with Günther making it to the duels, but unable to maintain his position until the end of the race. Barnard would climb up from 17th on the grid to 10th, with DS Penske taking home only two points at the end of the Jeddah double header.
The difficult weekend sees them drop to ninth in the constructors’ standings, only ahead of Lola Yamaha ABT, and leaves the team with plenty to do ahead of the European leg of the season.
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