Bethonie WaringMitch Evans described the first Berlin E-Prix of the weekend as chaos “on another level” and admitted that luck as much as strong race pace earned him the victory.
Evans came through from ninth on the grid to take his second consecutive win, and lead Jaguar’s first 1-2 finish in Formula E history.
The win moves him up to fourth in the championship standings, but repeating the feat in tomorrow’s race won’t be easy.
“I think I had pretty good race pace,” he said. “I don’t think I lucked into it. But my race could have easily been ended, like Stoffel [Vandoorne’s] or Jake [Dennis’]. I’m not sure what happened but these incidents were just coming. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be involved in them or not.
“I had many contacts with the front wing, and the front wing is very fragile, so [I had] a little bit of luck maybe with that, and just the outcomes of attacking people at the right time. It’s hard to predict. You go with your gut and instinct. It will be the same tomorrow. It’s just a matter of if it falls your way or not.”
There were eight different leaders over the course of the race, with the lead changing hands 23 times. Many had incidents, including early race leader Dan Ticktum, who collided with Stoffel Vandoorne as they battled late in the race. Four drivers failed to finish the race, while others dropped backwards with incidents after strong starts.
“I knew it was going to be chaos, but it was on another level,” said Evans. “Just to navigate yourself through some of the slow stops, with people backing up in front of you, a massive concertina effect. And then people not taking you out as well, people trying to overtake you when they don’t really need to, and then you trying to do the same as well. It was a bit extreme.
“I was just lucky to keep out of some of the carnage. I wanted to progress towards the front. And then in the end, I was battling with Sam [Bird] and Seb [Buemi]. I felt really strong in the car, but I also made sure I was clear to race the guys. I was staying behind Seb and then the guys gave me the green light to attack.
“I had a bit of pace at the end to be able to give myself a bit of a gap. Massive credit to everyone on the team. A back-to-back victory, back-to-back podium for both of us. A 1-2. A special day.”
Evans took the race lead on four separate occasions in the latter stages of the race. The last time came on lap 40 of 43 when he passed both his team-mate and Buemi for the final time.
“I found myself in the lead a little bit too early, something like 17 laps to go,” he said. “I felt I had good pace, but it was just too long. I kind of half-tried to break the tow, but it just wasn’t possible. I rethought my strategy and tried to work together [with Bird and Buemi] to break away from the Maseratis and the guys behind.
“Then the target started creeping up and I wasn’t really sure I was going to have an opportunity to pass. I could feel I was a little stronger with balance compared to Sam and Seb. I think that’s what won me the race today, just having a little bit extra rear tyre life towards the end, because the energies were kind of similar.”
