How Evans pounced for Jaguar in a Sao Paulo slipstreaming chess match

“It was just amazing to go toe-to-toe with these guys and try and outsmart each other, and we always said it’s like playing chess out there.”

If the inaugural Sao Paulo E-Prix had indeed been the equivalent of a chess match, there’s no doubt that Mitch Evans would have been granted the rank of Grandmaster, as the Kiwi judged his moves to perfection en route to victory – his and Jaguar’s first of the season.

A total of seven official changes for the lead – as well as 144 overtakes overall – underlined the thrilling spectacle on Formula E’s first visit to Brazil, which at times resembled a Formula Ford race such was the effect of the slipstream.

The race also firmly signified Jaguar’s emergence as a serious rival to Porsche in the championship battle, with the German manufacturer up until now the class of the field. In all but one of the previous five races – courtesy of Jean-Eric Vergne’s win in Hyderabad for DS Penske – the season has generally been dominated by Porsche, but the pecking order changed on the streets of Sao Paulo. Jaguar proved it has lost none of its bite, with all three podium finishers powered by the British brand.

If that result was unexpected ahead of the event, the nature of the race and how the narrative unfolded went exactly the way many had predicted in the build-up. Talk ahead of the scheduled 31-lap race had centred around the unique layout of the circuit, which consisted of four notable straights, an uncommon sight for Formula E venues which – in the nine seasons of the championship – have generally been held on tight, twisty configurations more suited to the electric machines.

The layout, similar to the one used by IndyCar between 2010-13, was always going to lend itself to a tactical slipstreaming battle, so it was somewhat of a cursed blessing when reigning Formula E champion Stoffel Vandoorne took his maiden pole position of the season and his first with DS Penske.

The ex-McLaren F1 driver got the better of Antonio Felix da Costa in the qualifying final duel by just 0.063 seconds, the Porsche driver continuing his impressive run of form having taken victory in the previous Cape Town race with a last-lap pass on Vergne. Evans, meanwhile, lined up third after losing out to the Portuguese driver in his qualifying semi-final duel.

A perfect launch ensured Vandoorne held a comfortable lead through the opening sequence of corners, for a race which was held with temperatures of 56C (track) and 33C (air), while da Costa was forced to defend from Evans into the right-hand Turn 1. The concertina effect through the opening sequence of bends had repercussions further down the order, as Norman Nato went over the back of Jake Hughes’s McLaren, launching the Nissan driver briefly into the air and removing his front wing.

Formula E landed in Brazil for the first time and the former IndyCar track in Sao Paulo track posed a very different challenge

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Edoardo Mortara also suffered the same fate but in less spectacular fashion, having seemingly clipped the rear of Evans’s Jaguar and dropped out of fourth, but unlike Nato eventually rejoined proceedings at the back.

For the early part of the running, the order remained unchanged as Vandoorne headed da Costa and Evans, with Envision’s Nick Cassidy moving into fourth from fifth on the grid, while Vergne had made strides to run fifth after starting seventh. Even by lap four da Costa’s race engineer had given the Porsche driver the order to save energy behind Vandoorne and he duly remained in the slipstream, citing that the DS Penske driver “was a windbreaker for all of us”.

The Belgian tried to rectify the problem of leading by taking one minute of attack mode to concede the lead on lap five, but just two tours later he was back at the head of the pack with a move into the first corner.

Moments later the first of two safety periods was triggered when Sacha Fenestraz’s Nissan came to a halt on the exit of Turn 6, and when racing resumed on lap 12 Vandoorne still led from Evans and Cassidy, with da Costa now fourth. The Porsche driver set about making up places though, diving to the inside of Cassidy into Turn 4 and moving ahead of Evans into Turn 1 at the start of the following lap to once again occupy second.

While Wehrlein was able to continue despite “the whole floor missing on the right side” which “destroyed my rear tyres”, Dennis was forced to stop due to the damage sustained in the collision with Ticktum – and was left furious

Cassidy was the next to make progress, disposing of his fellow Kiwi into the Turn 4 chicane with a late lunge before spectacularly sweeping past both da Costa and Vandoorne into Turn 1 at the start of the next tour.

Not wanting to lead either, Cassidy immediately took one minute of attack mode and dropped to second while behind, huge ramifications had been set into motion concerning the title battle. Championship leader Pascal Wehrlein had only been able to start 18th after a sub-par qualifying performance, but the Porsche driver’s leading rival Jake Dennis failed to capitalise as he put his Andretti Autosport machine only 14th.

Approaching the halfway point of proceedings, the pair were running nose-to-tail on the fringes of the top 10 but heading into Turn 1 Dennis was hit from behind by the NIO 333 machine of Dan Ticktum. The resulting contact caused significant damage, which became apparent moments later under braking for the right-hand hairpin of Turn 3 as Dennis lost control and took avoiding action to the inside of Wehrlein ahead – the two making contact.

While Wehrlein was able to continue despite “the whole floor missing on the right side” which “destroyed my rear tyres”, Dennis was forced to stop due to the damage sustained in the collision with Ticktum – and was left furious.

Ticktum ended Dennis's race after colliding with the Andretti driver

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Dennis’s stranded machine instigated the second safety car period, with Cassidy having moved to the front again prior to the caution, while da Costa had also deposed Vandoorne into Turn 7 and was second.

The DS Penske driver had begun a spiral down the order, his many laps at the head of the field having cost him around 3% more energy compared with his rivals despite having been “lifting crazy early everywhere” to not lead. He even went as far as suggesting that there had been “some instances where it was quite dangerous”, such were his efforts to lift and coast into the braking zones.

Following the end of the second safety car period, the leading quartet all activated their remaining attack modes over the following four laps, and once the order settled down Cassidy led from Evans, with da Costa holding a watching brief while Vandoorne had slipped down to fourth.

At the start of lap 25 came one of the race’s pivotal moments, with da Costa losing any chance of victory by running wide at Turn 1 and needing to come to a complete stop before rejoining. The error dropped him from third to seventh and provided breathing space for the two Kiwis at the head of the field.

While the gap out front fluctuated to no more than 2s over the following laps, of more significance was the progress of Sam Bird behind. The Briton had qualified fifth, but was forced to start 10th due to serving a five-place grid penalty for a collision with Jaguar team-mate Evans in Hyderabad. He had been unable to serve it last time out in Cape Town, where he didn't take the start due to a qualifying crash.

Bird had made steady progress in the early stages, moving into sixth at the expense of Hughes on lap five and, along with Vergne directly in front, had shadowed the leading quartet while saving energy. With da Costa’s error he was promoted to fifth. Then he demoted Vergne into Turn 1 on lap 29 for fourth, and was soon up into third as Vandoorne continued to lose ground. By now an extra four laps of racing had been declared due to the two safety car periods, and a nearly 2s gap between Evans and Bird began to quickly evaporate in the scorching heat.

Seeing his team-mate approaching fast in his mirrors, Evans made the pivotal move for the lead down the inside of Cassidy into the first corner on lap 32 of the eventual 35. While the move would prove to be checkmate come the chequered flag, a thrilling lead battle ran until the very end. Cassidy and Bird shadowed Evans over the remaining three laps, with a move for the lead always going to come down to the final tour.

Sure enough, Cassidy looked for a gap on the run to the Turn 4 chicane, forcing Evans to defend to the inside, while the same situation occurred on the run down to the 90-degree right of Turn 7.

Evans held off Cassidy and Bird in a thrilling final lap to give life to his title hopes

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Incredibly, Cassidy then tried to the outside again in the penultimate corner, pulling completely alongside Evans into the left-turn. With the inside line, Evans held his ground and moved to defend the inside of the final right-hand bend as the top three were covered by just over half a second at the chequered flag.

“It’s come at a really good time, we couldn’t leave it much later in the season because we’ve lost a lot of ground [in the championship],” said Evans of his first win since Seoul in August last year. “The qualifying has been good, the pace has been good, the race pace has been solid but for different reasons we’ve not been able to convert it into a good result.

“We knew this race was going to be tough from a strategy point of view, but I think we timed it to perfection. Obviously having three Jaguar powertrains on the podium is a special moment for the team.”

While Cassidy recorded his third podium on the trot, for Bird it was a case of what might have been, having had more energy in reserve than his rivals in front. But the Briton conceded after his collision in Hyderabad “there was absolutely no point sticking my nose somewhere where it could have really affected team Jaguar’s points”.

For Evans, the result leaves him 47 points behind Wehrlein at the top of the standings but with the confidence that Jaguar appears to have at last caught up with its German rival, after winning the race no one wanted to lead

Some 3.5s behind the victor was da Costa, who was left to rue his mistake at Turn 1 having recovered back ahead of Vergne and Vandoorne in the final laps, as the Frenchman headed home his DS Penske team-mate.

Despite suffering damage in his collision with Dennis, Wehrlein was able to finish seventh, and had even been running in fourth prior to activating the first of his two mandatory attack modes. Not only had the German reached the end with a damaged car, but Dennis’ retirement meant he increased his lead at the top of the standings to 24 points – something that had looked unlikely after qualifying.

Following his opening lap collision with Nato, Hughes was able to finish seventh, just ahead of McLaren team-mate Rene Rast as the duo avoided the chaos that unfolded around them. Envision’s Sebastien Buemi completed the top 10, despite remarkably needing to pit for a new front wing and suffering hand injuries in an earlier collision.

For Evans, the result leaves him 47 points behind Wehrlein at the top of the standings but with the confidence that Jaguar appears to have at last caught up with its German rival, after winning the race no one wanted to lead.

“It was a really tricky race to manage for the team, they guided me through it really well in terms of trying to pick our moment to lead or drop behind,” he said. “It was quite extreme in terms of trying sometimes to not lead a race – which is completely bizarre!”

Evans led the all-Jaguar celebrations, joined on the podium by two sculptures of the feline creature

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images