Formula E season continues in Saudi Arabia: Porsche supreme again?

Gen3 cars started in Mexico City

The 2022-2023 Formula E season began at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. A first showdown with the new Gen3 cars. The new cars are lighter and have more power and in addition, the drivers also have to get used to Hankook's new tyres. The race in Mexico gave a nice picture of the proportions.

Porsche in particular got off to a strong start. The German Volkswagen Group brand supplies the powertrain for their team and customer Andretti, and those four cars finished in the top ten in qualifying. Pole went to Lucas di Grassi, who outpaced Jake Dennis in the Andretti on behalf of Mahindra in the final knock-outs.

In the race, however, there was no stopping the power of Dennis' Andretti Porsche. The Briton passed Di Grassi and eventually finished almost eight seconds ahead of the number two. That second place also went to a Porsche-powered car, namely Pascal Wehrlein in the factory team's car.

Di Grassi finished in third place in his Mahindra, keeping off Andre Lotterer (also with a Porsche powertrain) and Jake Hughes. Hughes had a strong debut in the FE on behalf of McLaren-Nissan. In the top ten, apart from Antonio Felix da Costa's Porsche, we saw drivers with a Jaguar powertrain and one on behalf of DS.

The latter team in particular was very disappointing, with tenth and twelfth places for Stoffel Vandoorne and Jean-Eric Vergne. Maserati, too, will have expected more from their debut than the 11th place for Maximilian Gunther and the retirement for Edoardo Mortara. The biggest casualty of the first race was Robin Frijns. He broke his hand and wrist and is unlikely to be in action in Diriyah.

Diriyah ePrix

The Diriyah ePrix at the Riyadh Street Circuit has had a place on the Formula E calendar since 2018 and is a doubleheader that has been held annually since 2019. Two races in one weekend. Nyck de Vries, together with Sam Bird, is the record holder in Riyadh with two victories; Antonio Felix da Costa, Alexander Sims, and Edoardo Mortara have also won in Saudi Arabia before.

Two weeks after the first ePrix, the teams will have gathered a lot of data on the new car and may already have taken a big step forward. Still, it is hard to imagine that the ranking will change completely. It is therefore expected that we will again see many Porsche drivers at the front. Hopefully, the drivers of Mahindra, McLaren, and Jaguar can still make it somewhat exciting.

Timetable [CET times]

The race weekend starts on Friday 26 January with a first free practice session. On Saturday, the programme continues with the second free practice, qualifying, and the first race in Saudi Arabia. There will then be a third free practice on Sunday, followed immediately by qualifying and the second race.

Friday

First free practice: 15:55-16:45

Saturday

Second free practice: 11:25-12:15

Qualifying: 13:40-14:55

Race: 18:03-19:30

Sunday

Third free practice: 11:25-12:15

Qualifying: 13:40-14:55

Race: 18:03-19:30