Winners and Losers: Miami E-Prix

Written by Vyas Ponnuri

The sunshine may have missed the 2026 Miami E-Prix, but that did not stop several teams from delivering standout performances in Formula E’s annual stateside race. Vyas takes a look at the biggest winners and losers from the Sunshine state last weekend…

Evans took his first win of 2026 in Miami | Credit: Simon Galloway/LAT Images

Winner: Mitch Evans

Mitch Evans’ Formula E record over the past year and a half has seen three race victories interspersed with a string of non-points scores. It’s been a stark contrast to the New Zealander’s form of the old, of contending for championships. 

When he found himself in the barriers once again at the season opener in São Paulo, it looked to be another tough season in the making. 11th in Mexico marked another tough weekend without return, as Evans found himself falling back into the clutches of those in a later attack mode strategy. 

Miami, though, was a different tale for the Jaguar duo. While teammate da Costa would start third, Evans was left to rue ninth on the grid. Nevertheless, he maintained steady ground, taking his first attack mode for two minutes on Lap 19. While da Costa had taken the lead from Porsche’s Nico Müller a lap earlier, Evans sat seventh, at the rear of this train of cars. 

This crucial two-minute sprint saw Evans make his way up to third, passing Mahindra’s Nyck de Vries. Another side-by-side battle with da Costa on Lap 25 saw Evans swoop around the outside of Turn 1 to snatch second. 

However, he saved his best for the end, forcing race leader Müller to defend into Turn 13 two laps later, and executing a textbook switchback overtake to take the lead onto Lap 28. He was untroubled ever since, staying far enough ahead of the rest even after taking his final attack mode on Lap 35. 

Victory in Miami was Evans’ first of 2026, and continued his streak of winning at least one race every season, since Season 8. It also brought his and Jaguar’s first points of Season 12, delivering reassured confidence to the team that their package is, in fact, capable of being at the front and battling for the top honours. 

Loser: Jake Dennis

For someone as metronomic and consistent in Formula E, Miami marked a rare off day for Jake Dennis. Already a race winner in Season 12, Dennis couldn’t replicate a similar performance in the annual stateside race. 

While teammate Felipe Drugovich made it through to the duels, the Briton was eliminated early in the session, lining up only 15th on the grid for the race. 

Dennis spent a significant chunk of the race stuck in a long train of cars outside the top 10, on a day when overtaking proved challenging. One wrong move would have spelt disaster, like it did for teammate Drugovich on Lap 26. 

The Andretti man stacked his attack modes during the end, taking a two-minute attack mode early on, before his final six minutes of attack mode on Lap 34. This allowed him to make up positions on the Lola Yamaha duo as well as Taylor Barnard towards the fag end of the race, enough to secure the final point. 

However, he still ends up in this column considering the big miss for his competitors in the standings, and being unable to match his younger, rookie teammate for the best part of the race weekend. 

Winners: Porsche

Porsche took their first podium appearance of Season 12 | Credit: Simon Galloway/LAT Images

Porsche are known for being regulars on the Formula E podium, but rued missing out on opportunities in the early weekends of Season 12. Both Wehrlein and Müller had missed out on the rostrum in São Paulo and Mexico City. 

Nevertheless, Wehrlein still managed a top-six finish across both races, while Müller finished fifth and eighth in both weekends, banking valuable points along the way. This trend looked to continue for the best part of the Miami weekend, when Wehrlein was knocked out early in qualifying, and teammate Müller was one of the two Porsche-powered cars to make it to the duels. 

The cloudy locales of Miami may not have paved the way for the traditional sunshine, but it reaped rewards for Porsche across the weekend. Müller faced off against Drugovich in the race for pole, snatching the top spot and three championship points with a 55.455-second lap. It was only the second time a teammate of Wehrlein at Porsche had taken pole, coming six years after Andre Lotterer’s pole at Mexico City in 2020. 

Rain an hour before the race meant overtaking would be more difficult than expected, putting the Swissman in the best position to secure race victory. 

Despite swapping and battling hard with Drugovich early, Müller was able to hold on to the race lead, while Wehrlein made his way up from 11th on the grid to sixth, taking an early attack mode along the way. 

While da Costa found his way into the race lead on Lap 18, the Porsche man swiftly retook the position, cementing his position at the top. 

Despite holding the ascendancy, Müller couldn’t hold off the force of Evans, who went on to take the race lead with a sensational switchback overtake. With no imminent threat to his position, the Porsche man consolidated his second position. 

Further back, Wehrlein emerged ahead of Nyck de Vries, who was running lower on energy. His comeback made it a double podium for Porsche, their first since the 2025 Shanghai E-Prix weekend. This also put them in the lead of the Constructors’ standings, 27 points ahead of Citroën Racing after three races. 

Losers: Citroën Racing

Citroën couldn't score points in Miami | Credit: Simon Galloway/LAT Images

After two races that saw Citroën taste the highs of a maiden Formula E victory and the lead of the championship, Miami brought about their first off day in Season 12. 

While championship leader Nick Cassidy came into the weekend with a new look, after winning a bet with teammate Jean-Éric Vergne, he couldn’t replicate the same form from Mexico City into Miami. A scuffle early into the weekend with da Costa saw both make contact at Turn 8 during FP1. 

Cassidy, though, would make it into the duels stage in qualifying, having been the fourth quickest in Group B. He fell by the wayside in the quarter finals to Nyck de Vries, the margin being 0.133 seconds, fetching him seventh on the grid. Vergne, meanwhile, started only 17th for the race. 

The team’s gamble to go for higher tyre pressures and set up for a drying track did not pay off, with Cassidy sliding down the order early in the race. Having sat 11th early in the race, he couldn’t pull off his trademark comeback drive this time, even being lapped along the way. 

Vergne ended up being the last driver on the lead lap, finishing 15th, one position ahead of Cassidy, as the team rounded out a difficult Miami weekend with no points in the bag. 

While Cassidy maintained his lead in the drivers’ standings, sitting two points ahead of Wehrlein, Citroën lost their early lead in the constructors’ standings to Porsche, with significant ground to make up during the upcoming Jeddah E-Prix double-header. 

Winners: Mahindra Racing

Mahindra now sit third in the standings after Miami | Credit: Mark Sutton/LAT Images

While Andretti and Nissan missed out in Miami, it was Mahindra who picked up the pieces. The Indian manufacturer sit third in the constructors’ standings after the Miami E-Prix weekend, six points behind newcomers Citroën Racing and only one point ahead of Andretti in the standings. 

This came about after the team’s first double points finish of the season, with de Vries finishing fifth and Edoardo Mortara delivering an excellent comeback drive from 17th on the grid to sixth at the flag. 

The Swissman ended up down the order in qualifying after an incident with Sébastien Buemi at Turn 13. Buemi was unsighted as he cut across the corner to begin his flying lap, while Mortara clattered into the Envision racer, left nowhere to go. 

Buemi also found himself in the way of de Vries on his flying lap, with the dual incidents in qualifying incurring an eight-place grid drop. However, the damage had been done, with Mortara out in the group stages and up against it in the race. 

De Vries had a clearer run from fourth on the grid, having made the duels earlier. Taking four minutes of attack mode early as compared to two minutes for Müller and Drugovich ahead. While the Dutchman’s best chance of maximising the extra power would be to get ahead, he wouldn’t get through to the lead, constrained to the pace of the battling duo ahead. 

Having used up plenty of energy early in the race, de Vries was left to stay behind, losing ground to Wehrlein and Joel Eriksson late in the race. On the contrary, Mortara made a series of moves early in the race, sitting up in eighth as early as Lap 17. 

Despite a nine-second gap ahead, he pressed on, gaining positions on Drugovich and da Costa, the latter after a daring overtake into Turn 4 on the penultimate lap, on his way to sixth. 

Losers: DS Penske

DS Penske failed to score for the first time in Season 12 | Credit: Simon Galloway/LAT Images

It’s been a mixed start to the season for DS Penske, with both Max Günther and Taylor Barnard netting points in the two races and missing out on points due to incidents. However, Miami also brought about the first non-score for the team in black and gold. 

Barnard looked to be the pole favourite heading into qualifying, having topped FP2 after finishing second in FP1. He also set the quickest time in Group B, almost three tenths ahead of the rest. 

However, a shock elimination in qualifying by one millisecond to Drugovich left the young Briton fifth on the grid. Teammate Günther was already eliminated in qualifying, starting 10th for the race. 

With rain falling just an hour before the race, DS Penske were one of the teams gambling on the track drying up later in the race, setting their tyre pressures expecting the same too. However, this strategy call didn’t come off, with Günther sliding backwards as the race went on. Despite finding himself at the rear of the field, the German driver came home to finish 19th, a lap down on the leader. 

It was more of the same for Barnard ahead. Despite starting fifth and running in the points, he couldn’t convert this into a score, coming home in 14th after losing out to those in attack mode late in the race. 

Winners: The rookie class

Eriksson scored a career best P4 in Miami | Credit: Simon Galloway/LAT Images

The Miami E-Prix weekend proved to be a stellar weekend for Formula E rookies, even for those who aren’t full timers on the grid!

Free Practice 0 (FP0) kicked off the Miami E-Prix weekend, featuring 10 rookies who were yet to drive a Formula E car. Several names came together from different championships to experience the rare opportunity to test the Gen3 Evo Formula E car. 

The list included reigning DTM champion Ayhancan Güven, IndyCar’s newest rookie Dennis Hauger, female racers Abbi Pulling and Chloe Chambers, as well as several Formula E reserve and test drivers. Cupra Kiro fielded full-time rookie Pepe Martí, who is eligible to run rookie tests until the end of Season 12. 

It was Envision Racing’s Zak O’Sullivan who eventually topped the session, ahead of Citroën’s Theo Pourchaire and Nissan’s Gabriele Minì. 

Martí’s weekend ended on a high, as he managed to climb up three positions from his starting spot of 12th, finishing ninth and scoring points for the second race in succession. Drugovich too fared well across the Miami weekend, until his incident with da Costa on Lap 26 cost him a shot at his first points of the season. 

The best performing full-time rookie, though, proved to be Joel Eriksson. The Envision man qualified a strong sixth on the grid, running steadily through the race. Despite losing out to Wehrlein, the Swedish driver finished fourth, making a late move on de Vries on his way to a best Formula E result. 

Loser: Dan Ticktum

Ticktum failed to finish for the third race in a row | Credit: Simon Galloway/LAT Images

Once is unusual, twice can be a coincidence. But thrice? Bittersweet? Shocking? It’s your choice of words here. 

Dan Ticktum’s Season 12 might be more baffling to decode than anyone else’s. Three race weekends, three DNFs, and the worst start for any Formula E driver to a full-time season aren’t anything close to marking just what the London native is capable of on the racetrack. 

You’d think Miami would bring about a change in fortunes, especially after Ticktum topped FP1 on the Friday of the race weekend. Despite being eliminated early in qualifying, anything could be possible, given the unpredictable nature of Formula E. 

However, he too opted for the dry weather set up and tyre pressures. With the same strategy as the DS Penske and Citroën teams, Ticktum fell out of the reckoning as the race went on. 

After becoming the first driver to be lapped, Cupra Kiro called Ticktum into the pits, hoping for a change of rubber to help Ticktum salvage some ground, and in the hope of a potential safety car bunching the field up. 

With none of this transpiring, Ticktum pulled into the garage to call it a day, for yet another DNF. The Cupra Kiro racer will be looking ahead to the Jeddah double header, looking to make it to the chequered flag and get his season underway.