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Jaguar TCS Racing's Mitch Evans delivered a strategic masterstroke at the Tempelhof Airport circuit, timing his energy deployment to perfection to secure victory in the Berlin E-Prix. The New Zealander carved his way through the field from 14th on the grid, ultimately holding off reigning champion Oliver Rowland and Porsche's Pascal Wehrlein to claim a record-breaking 16th career win in Formula E—the most of any driver in the series' history.
The result capped off a fiercely contested weekend in the German capital, where energy management and ATTACK MODE strategy dictated the flow of a highly tactical encounter.
As the 20-car field funneled into Turn 1, Wehrlein and Taylor Barnard swapped positions in the opening exchanges. The tight confines of the concrete apron quickly claimed victims, with contact inevitable in the congested pack. At the Hairpin, Envision's Sebastien Buemi squeezed the Mahindras into Nick Cassidy's Citroen, eliminating Nyck de Vries on the spot and sending Cassidy tumbling down the order.
By Lap 7, the Envision duo of Joel Eriksson and Buemi had assumed control at the front. Behind them, the top ten featured Edoardo Mortara, Jean-Eric Vergne, Felipe Drugovich, Barnard, Wehrlein, Nico Mueller, Antonio Felix da Costa, and Maximilian Guenther. Cassidy's race went from bad to worse when further contact with Buemi forced him into the pits for a replacement front wing.
The complexion of the race shifted on Lap 12 when Rowland decided to pull the pin. The Nissan driver set the fastest lap of the race, having meticulously banked a three to four percent usable energy advantage over the rest of the pack. Surging from the back of the grid, the Briton climbed to sixth and looked poised to challenge for the front.
Strategy began to diverge as Zane Maloney became the first to trigger his mandatory 50kW, all-wheel drive ATTACK MODE, propelling his Lola Yamaha ABT machine into the top six. Vergne followed suit on Lap 17, also vaulting into the leading group.
Rowland eventually hit the front, managing a gap to Buemi in second while maintaining a crucial three percent energy buffer. However, Norman Nato disrupted the rhythm, taking his ATTACK MODE on Lap 21 to slice into the lead and build a two-second advantage. Remarkably, both Nato and Rowland had climbed 15 positions from their starting spots.
Rowland responded with his own activation on Lap 22, temporarily dropping to the lower half of the top ten as the pack's pace dramatically increased—lapping some six seconds quicker than in the opening phase. When the dust settled on his activation, Rowland emerged in second behind Nato.
Lurking in third was Evans, who boasted the best remaining energy profile of the leading trio. On Lap 27, the Jaguar driver unleashed his initial six-minute ATTACK MODE boost, surging into the lead and immediately taking control of the race.
With six laps remaining, Evans had stretched his advantage to 1.6 seconds over Rowland. Vergne sat third, followed by Nato, Wehrlein, Buemi, da Costa, Mueller, Barnard, and Dan Ticktum.
The final round of ATTACK MODE activations set up a grandstand finish. Evans blinked last on Lap 32, briefly handing the lead to Wehrlein. However, the Porsche driver had a minute less of the 50kW boost remaining. Rowland, sitting in fourth, held a significant advantage: an extra minute of ATTACK MODE over Evans and a one percent energy surplus.
Evans decisively reclaimed the lead out of the final turn on Lap 32. Rowland followed him past Wehrlein a lap later, though the move appeared to occur under Yellow Flag conditions.
A Full Course Yellow was deployed to clear debris, leaving just two racing laps for a flat-out sprint to the checkered flag. Evans held his nerve, expertly defending against Rowland's advances to seal a historic victory.
Rowland's second-place finish secured a double podium for the weekend, adding to his third-place result from Saturday and giving him the most silverware of any driver this season. Wehrlein, who secured a crucial pole position earlier in the weekend, bounced back from a puncture-ruined race on Saturday to finish third, regaining the championship standings lead on home soil.
The result capped a dominant weekend for Porsche and their 'Pink Pig' liveried cars. Following Nico Mueller's strategic masterclass victory in Round 7, the Stuttgart manufacturer leaves Berlin firmly at the top of both the Teams' and Manufacturers' tables.
The Formula E paddock now turns its attention to the principality, with Rounds 9 and 10 set to take place in Monaco in two weeks' time.
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.
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