Formula E Sao Paulo ePrix
Dennis: "Win was there" in Sao Paulo Formula E race
Reigning Formula E champion Jake Dennis believes that “the win was there” in this weekend’s Sao Paulo E-Prix, before eventually losing a podium spot on the final corner.
Stefan Mackley
Edited: Mar 17, 2024, 2:50 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The Andretti driver had climbed from 10th on the grid to challenge for victory and led at several points during the 34-lap contest in Brazil on Saturday.
The Briton found himself back in third after taking both Attack Mode activations, admitting that “communication wasn’t great” between himself and the team to capitalise on the strategic element.
“I think the win was there,” Dennis told Autosport. “That second Attack Mode was quite unclear from my side.
“I got told to take it when we still had attack, [mode] so it would have been a failure of Attack Mode, then I got a late call to cancel it and then I took it again. It was all a bit of a mess.
“It just wasn’t very clinical between me and the team, the communication wasn’t great.
“We move on and we learn from it and I think we’ll be better prepared if we’re in that situation again.”
Sam Bird, NEOM McLaren Formula E Team, e-4ORCE 04, Antonio Felix da Costa, Porsche, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3
Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images
Despite having more energy than both eventual winner Sam Bird and runner-up Mitch Evans ahead over the final laps, soaring internal car temperatures meant Dennis began to lose power and drop back.
It put him into the clutches of polesitter Pascal Wehrlein, with the Porsche driver lunging up the inside of Dennis into the final corner on the last lap.
The tight line meant both lost momentum on the exit, allowing Nissan’s Oliver Rowland directly behind to sneak ahead on the run to the chequered flag as Dennis slipped to fifth.
“He [Wehrlein] went for a gap and I was probably about 100bhp down at the end to the other guys, I was so slow down the straights,” added Dennis.
“There’s obviously only so much you can do and they had such a speed advantage over you and they punished us and obviously Oliver got the best out of it.”
Rowland had started one spot behind Dennis in 11th but made steady progress through the field, passing Jean-Eric Vergne into Turn 1 on lap 30 for sixth, and moved up another spot at the expense of Antonio Felix da Costa two laps later.
He then closed on both Dennis and Wehrlein quickly with his last-lap, final corner overtake making it back-to-back podiums for the Briton.
“To be honest, when I was in fifth it already felt like Christmas,” said Rowland.
“I could see the other two were struggling more than I was [with battery temperatures] but I was quite concerned to just finish the race myself.
“I saw them fighting into Turn 7 and I thought I’d just get close and if anything happens, I can pick up the pieces.
“They were pretty aggressive on each other and put each other right on the inside for Turn 11 [the final corner] and I managed to get up underneath them and beat them to the line which was pretty cool.”
Read Also:
Formula ECassidy must "look internally at myself" after Sao Paulo Formula E crash
Formula EBird: McLaren's maiden Formula E win in Sao Paulo "one of the more special"
Formula ESao Paulo E-Prix: Bird seals McLaren's first Formula E win with last-lap pass
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Cassidy must "look internally at myself" after Sao Paulo Formula E crash
Next article Guenther: “Performance reasons” behind 40-place Formula E Sao Paulo grid drop
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Stefan Mackley
Formula E’s Pit Boost debut receives mixed response from drivers
Formula E
Formula E
Jeddah ePrix I
Formula E’s Pit Boost debut receives mixed response from drivers
The influencer fishing exercise Formula E hopes can achieve its long-term aims
Formula E
Formula E
The influencer fishing exercise Formula E hopes can achieve its long-term aims
Beckham's son, Aguero amongst celebrities set to drive Formula E cars in Miami
Formula E
Formula E
Beckham's son, Aguero amongst celebrities set to drive Formula E cars in Miami
Latest news
F1 United States GP: Sunday schedule, weather forecast and how to watch
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
5 min
F1 United States GP: Sunday schedule, weather forecast and how to watch
2026 F1 United States Grand Prix starting grid
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
14 min
2026 F1 United States Grand Prix starting grid
F1 2026 qualifying head-to-head: United States GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
27 min
F1 2026 qualifying head-to-head: United States GP
F1 United States GP: Kimi Antonelli takes pole with George Russell sixth
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
35 min
F1 United States GP: Kimi Antonelli takes pole with George Russell sixth
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe