How Dennis conquered Rome to lay siege to the Formula E title

On a weekend when Formula E championship rivals collided, a multi-car accident wiped out nearly half the field and a clear title favourite emerged after a virtuoso performance, it was fitting that with its gladiatorial heritage, Rome should prove to be the venue. 

While Jake Dennis has not claimed this year’s title just yet, the Briton firmly placed one hand on the crown after his performance across the scorching Rome E-Prix double-header, despite at one stage losing the championship lead he held coming into the event. 

That final point typified a frenetic weekend of racing in Italy where the balance of the championship swung in several directions before landing in favour of the Andretti Autosport driver, who had to wait until Sunday and the weekend’s second race before unleashing his true potential. 

Even before the race Dennis had signalled his intent by beating new championship leader Nick Cassidy to pole position in the final qualifying duel, as well as surviving a post-session investigation for an alleged incident of impeding, which the stewards dismissed. Apart from being a vital confidence boost and the obvious advantage of starting at the front, pole more importantly gifted an extra three points to Dennis, which trimmed Cassidy’s lead from five points down to just two even before the race got under way.

Having held the lead off the line, Dennis headed Cassidy and fellow championship challenger Mitch Evans, the trio covered by only 20 points prior to the race and seemingly set to battle for the duration of the scheduled 24-lap encounter.

But it was not to be, as under braking for the 90-degree left of Turn 7 on the second tour, Evans locked up his Jaguar’s rear axle, lost control and dramatically clattered into fellow Kiwi Cassidy directly in front. The impact launched Evans through the air before he landed against the barrier, while Cassidy took to the escape road in a moment that could well have decided the destination of the title.

Incredibly, both were able to rejoin at the back of the field while a safety car was deployed to retrieve bits of debris that had been shed in the incident. Evans headed to the pits for a new front wing but, although he resumed, the decision was taken to retire the car three laps later due to suspension damage suffered in the heavy impact.

The Formula E title tussle swung towards Dennis after Cassidy and Evans tangled

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

“Just a really s*** situation,” said Evans, who leaves Rome now 44 points behind Dennis. “Obviously I’ve got to take it on the chin, and I’ve got to put my hands up but it’s not like I was doing anything weird or trying to do anything dirty. I’ve barely touched a car the whole year. I just feel bad for taking me out of the race for my team as well. Probably more so for Nick because he did nothing wrong and with Jake winning it’s really damaged his chances.”

Remarkably, Cassidy was able to continue despite suffering damage to his roll hoop and halo in the collision. But he struggled to make headway over the remaining laps as, in stark contrast to other Formula E races this year, overtaking was at a premium due to the flat-out nature and tight confines of the Rome circuit. 

While Cassidy remained mired in the pack – eventually finishing 14th via a last-lap collision with Andretti’s Andre Lotterer that earned the Envision Racing driver a five-second penalty from the stewards – Dennis seized on the opportunity at the head of the field once racing resumed after one lap behind the safety car. 

The Briton’s mood was in stark contrast to 24 hours earlier, when he was left feeling dejected having not only lost out on a podium but also the lead in the championship to Cassidy

Dennis had been fortunate not to be hit by the out-of-control Evans in the incident, having been only inches further ahead, and fate once again smiled on the Andretti driver on lap six. Nissan’s Norman Nato was running second having started third and made a half-hearted attempt to take the lead into the left-hand Turn 17, the front of his car hitting Dennis’s left-rear tyre. Dennis emerged unscathed from the altercation, but Nato suffered front wing damage that was to have a lasting impact on proceedings. 

Both drivers took two minutes of Attack Mode on lap eight, with Dennis resuming in the lead as Nato dropped behind Sam Bird. Having let Evans beat him per team orders in both of the weekend’s qualifying sessions and with his team-mate now out, Bird was given instruction by Jaguar to go after Dennis and limit his points haul. 

The Briton immediately began to probe at Dennis’s defences, with his best attempt coming on lap 12 into Turn 7. Bird pulled alongside his countryman but was unable to force a way ahead on the outside line before slotting back in behind. 

Nato got his injured car home in second to mark his and Nissan's best result of the season

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

The first of his two Attack Modes a lap later dropped Bird down to fourth behind Nato and the Envision machine of Sebastien Buemi and, although he was able to move back into third on the next lap, the delay allowed Nato to resume in second once he and Dennis activated the second of their Attack Modes. 

This proved crucial, as with a damaged front wing and overheating rear tyres, Nato began to drop away from Dennis as his attention turned to keeping Bird behind. Dennis held a three-second margin at the chequered flag to take his second win of the season after his last win came at the opening round in Mexico, while Nato kept ahead of Bird, who despite having significantly more energy was unable to force his way into second. 

“Obviously unfortunate that Mitch and Nick DNF’d but I felt like we still had the pace to win the race even with them there,” said 2012 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner Dennis, who now leads Cassidy by 24 points after the Kiwi failed to score. “I think it was a good race as a whole and the team can be really proud of what they did overnight with the improvements, and we delivered the perfect result.” 

The Briton’s mood was in stark contrast to 24 hours earlier, when he was left feeling dejected having not only lost out on a podium but also the lead in the championship to Cassidy. It could have been worse for Dennis, though, who had to put in a robust defence over the final laps against DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne and Abt Cupra’s Nico Muller to hold onto fourth. 

Despite only starting seventh, things began positively for Dennis and by the midway point he had moved ahead of Evans for second with a move into Turn 3, before a lap later taking the lead from Sacha Fenestraz. 

He still led once the leading runners had all taken both of their Attack Mode activations but, crucially, his Andretti team had miscalculated how many laps the race would run to, with an additional two laps being added to the total following a safety car and red flag. 

With 3% less energy than Evans, it unsurprisingly meant Dennis was a sitting duck when the Jaguar swept into the lead five laps from the end heading along the straight before Turn 7. 

Dennis was feeling the pressure of the title fight after the first Rome race, having dropped to fourth and lost the overall points lead

Photo by: Andreas Beil

This was despite a “small scare” when Evans missed his second Attack Mode activation and meant he had to run out wide again the following lap. Evans’s Saturday victory in Rome – the scene of his double success the year before and fourth there in total – propelled him firmly back into the championship battle and just 20 points behind Cassidy at that stage of the weekend. Cassidy took second having climbed from ninth on the grid as 1.6s separated them at the finish. 

Under normal circumstances Evans’s victory would have been the main talking point, but the focus after race one was instead on team-mate Bird, who triggered arguably the biggest crash in Formula E history through the blind, high-speed sweep of Turn 6. 

Bird had initially started alongside Evans on the front row and took the lead into the first corner but had slipped down to fourth at the time of the accident on lap nine. Having lost control over the bumps and drain covers on one of the fastest and narrowest parts of the circuit, Bird bounced off the wall and was only just avoided by the closely following Dennis, Cassidy and Maximilian Guenther. 

“They need to adjust the drains and address the smoothness of that section, it’s too quick to have drains and bumps like that, which can send you into a wall at a moment’s notice” Sam Bird

He came to a stop broadside across the circuit. The unsighted Buemi glanced off the stricken Jaguar as the impact brought Bird’s car further onto the racing line, with the DS Penske of Stoffel Vandoorne hitting the wall on the outside in avoidance. Maserati’s Edoardo Mortara was unable to avoid Bird, though, and made heavy head-on contact with the stricken Jaguar, while the chaos also eliminated Antonio Felix da Costa (Porsche), Lucas di Grassi (Mahindra) and Robin Frijns (Abt Cupra). 

The race was immediately red flagged as all drivers were able to extract themselves from their wreckages unhurt, with Bird later calling for changes to be made to that section of track that had already claimed Lotterer earlier in the race. “They need to adjust the drains and address the smoothness of that section, it’s too quick to have drains and bumps like that, which can send you into a wall at a moment’s notice,” said Bird, whose podium the following day was made even more impressive after his team spent all night building a new car. 

Racing resumed after a lengthy delay with a standing start as Fenestraz held the lead from Evans, but the Nissan driver quickly began to exceed his energy target and dropped back, at that stage leaving Dennis ahead of Evans and Cassidy before both Kiwis demoted Dennis over the final laps. 

The wreckage of Bird's Jaguar after arguably the biggest crash in Formula E's history

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Guenther was able also able to pass Dennis and complete the podium after an impressive drive and the Maserati driver collected another strong result the next day by finishing sixth. 

His team-mate Mortara bounced back strongly from his heavy race-one accident to finish fourth – the pair separated by Buemi as the Envision driver was one of the last to use both Attack Mode activations. 

The weekend all but signified the end of Pascal Wehrlein’s title challenge as he trails Dennis by 49 points with only 58 still available, despite finishing both Rome races in the points via numerous incidents. 

Having failed to progress through to the duels on Saturday, Wehrlein damaged his front wing on the opening lap, which required a pitstop, and suffered suspension damage in the multi-car crash that was repaired under the red flag. After finishing seventh, he was demoted to ninth by the stewards when he was found to have driven too quickly under the red flag. His fortunes failed to improve much on Sunday, as a starting position of 15th consigned him to seventh again at the flag. 

The London E-Prix double-header at the end of the month will decide the destination of this year’s title and, with Dennis having won at the venue over the last two seasons and holding a strong points lead, it will surely take the same amount of drama seen in Rome to deny the 28-year-old.

Dennis leads nearest challenger Cassidy by 24 points going into the London double-header finale

Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images