Written by Vyas Ponnuri
Porsche driver Pascal Wehrlein converted his pole position earlier in the day to yet another Mexico victory, his second in three seasons, putting in a measured drive to win the race from Envision Racing's Sebastian Buemi, while Nick Cassidy delivered on his Jaguar debut, finishing on the podium, while taking the fastest lap too.
Max Gunther finished a brilliant fourth, splitting the two Jaguars, with Mitch Evans defending strongly from a train of cars headed by Vergne, on his way to fifth. Jean-Eric Vergne finished sixth for Penske, a strong day for the team, with Vandoorne finishing eighth.
Jake Hughes split the Penske duo, finishing seventh for NEOM McLaren, while reigning champion Jake Dennis finished ninth, recovering from 14th on the grid to finish ninth, with teammate Norman Nato rounding out the points.
AS IT UNFOLDED
As the lights went out, it was a fairly clean start all round, as Wehrlein pulled away from the rest at the start, while Max Gunther attempted to challenge second-placed Buemi, having been promoted to third due to the penalties for Jaguar's Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy.
The first incident came later in the lap though, as ABT Cupra's 100th race showing came to an end just as soon as it started. Lucas Di Grassi overshot the right-hander of turn nine, going into the barrier on the outside. It was later confirmed that he had a brake problem, causing him to overshoot turn nine.
The biggest gainers on lap one was Jake Dennis, moving up into ninth past Sacha Fenestraz at the Foro Sol section. Buemi's teammate Robin Frijns was the biggest victim on lap one, a technical issue seeing him fall to 15th, having started seventh on the grid.
As Wehrlein continued to push on, the first big incident would occur on lap three, when the other Porsche of Antonio Felix Da Costa attempted a lunge on the inside of ABT Cupra's Nico Muller into turn three, causing the latter to spin round, and both drivers would retire from the race, along with a beleaguered Di Grassi pulling into the pits to call it a day, on an important day for the ABT team, who were taking part in their 100th Formula E race.
The first round of attack modes did follow suit, as Wehrlein had only lost one place as he took attack mode on lap three, which he would gain when Buemi took attack mode soon after. The race stabilised as drivers managed their pace, and avoid losing any positions to their rivals.
Frijns day would go from bad to worse, as he would encounter a spin at turn 17, crashing heavily into the barrier on lap nine, instating a full course yellow (FCY) which later got upgraded to a safety car, the first of season ten.
A short safety car period ensued, before Sebastian Buemi led the field away in his green Envision Racing from Wehrlein. The Envision racer took attack mode a lap later, emerging just ahead of Gunther in third, allowing the Porsche driver back into the race lead.
Stoffel Vandoorne too took attack mode, followed by the Andretti duo of Dennis and teammate Norman Nato, the duo rounding out the points scorers as of lap 15.
Back at the front, Wehrlein led the race, but the attention was turning to Max Gunther, who was yet to take his second attack mode, and was running behind Buemi, who had used his attack modes.
Having taken his second attack mode on lap 15, Gunther emerged behind Cassidy, in fourth on the road, emerging just ahead of Cassidy's teammate Evans.
Heading into the latter stages of the race, a close battle emerged between Evans and Vergne for fifth on the road. The Frenchman appeared quick enough, however, just wasn't quick enough to pass the Jaguar ahead.
A train had developed behind Evans, with Jake Hughes, Vandoorne, Dennis, and Nato closely trailing the defending Jaguar, heading into the last few tours of the race.
With two laps of the regular race to go, it was confirmed that the race would have two added laps, as a result of the safety car earlier in the race. This would take the full race to 37 laps, and was the cue for drivers to start to push their energy systems harder towards the end, and initiative for Vergne to finally win out his race-long battle with Evans for fifth.
The dilemma surrounding Vergne was risking eight points to get a further two, as the laps ticked down, and the race went into extra time. The Penske racer was unabashedly frustrated, given he had the pace to get past the Jaguar ahead, but wasn't close enough to make an overtake into a slow corner on the track.
However, there was no stopping Wehrlein, who controlled the race, converting his pole position into a well-deserved victory, putting himself in the hot seat for the championship, and setting the bar for the rest to chase. However, his victory would be subject to a post-race investigation for a potential start line infringement.
Even still, the German was calm as he stepped out of his special purple-livery Porsche car, already looking forward to come back next year. He clearly embraces the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Buemi was happy with second, despite feeling as though he had underused his battery:
"I could have closed up to him, but I wouldn't have been able to overtake him, so I decided to take second" said the Swissman after the race.
Nevertheless, he would still be glad with second place, as he later reiterated.
Here are the full race results:
Pascal Wehrlein - TAG Heuer Porsche – 37 laps
Sebastien Buemi - Envision Racing +1.162
Nick Cassidy - Jaguar TCS Racing +2.079
Maximilian Gunther - Maserati MSG Racing +5.780
Mitch Evans - Jaguar TCS Racing +13.064
Jean-Eric Vergne - DS Penske +13.405
Jake Hughes - Neom McLaren +13.916
Stoffel Vandoorne - DS Penske +14.392
Jake Dennis - Andretti +14.767
Norman Nato - Andretti +15.312
Oliver Rowland - Nissan +15.485
Sacha Fenestraz - Nissan +15.718
Edoardo Mortara - Mahindra Racing +16.214
Sam Bird - Neom McLaren +20.600
Nyck de Vries - Mahindra Racing +23.665
Jehan Daruvala - Maserati MSG Racing +28.969
Nico Mueller - ABT Cupra +29.424
Dan Ticktum - ERT +1:14.758
Robin Frijns - Envision Racing (DNF)
Antonio Felix da Costa - TAG Heuer Porsche (DNF)
Lucas di Grassi - ABT Cupra (DNF)
Sergio Sette Camara - ERT (DNS)
That's it for Formula E in Mexico! Do tune in to the Diriyah E Prix, scheduled from 26th January, 2024 to 28th January, 2024, the first double-header of the season.