SEASON ten of the much-anticipated 2024 ABB Formula E World Championship kicked off to a fiery start at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez with the Hankook Mexico City E-Prix, where German driver Pascal Wehrlein of Tag Heuer Porsche grabbed the first win of the season.
However, victory is not yet confirmed for Wehrlein, who is under investigation for a technical infraction, along with defending champion Jake Dennis of Andretti Avalanche Racing.
Wehrlein challenged rivals and won from pole position, ahead of Envision Racing’s Sébastien Buemi and Jaguar TCS Racing’s Nick Cassidy in second and third, respectively.
“It was a tough race because we were leading most of the race, and actually, that’s not so efficient on energy, but for me, when I took over the lead, everything was more or less like a qualifying lap; I was really trying to maximise all my minimum speeds,” Wehrlein said.
“I saw a small mistake once behind me, which opened a small gap for me, and from then on, I think it was pretty controlled.”
“So thanks a lot to my team. Thanks a lot to all the fans here. It’s always great to be here in Mexico, and I’m already looking forward to coming back next year,” he said.
Sebastian Buemi registered his fourth consecutive podium in Mexico City, matching his season nine tally, and felt satisfied with his result.
“Actually, it was a smooth race, and I think qualifying was obviously the key point. It’s quite difficult to pass here, but I think we’ve had a clean race. Obviously, I had a bit of a moment in turn one and nearly lost position to Nick, but then I was just prepared to recover.
“Pascal was fast, I knew. Apparently, he was under investigation, but I didn’t want to try too much. So happy with that P2,” Buemi said.
“The last five laps I kept on under consuming, I guess I could have got close to him, but at that point to pass him, it would have been really risky. So I thought, you know what? I’m going to finish the [race] and let’s see what happens,” he said.
Nick Cassidy got his first podium with his new team ahead of teammate Mitch Evans, who ended in fifth.
“It’s not been an easy weekend, and the team has been really awesome with me, though. Hopefully, this is the start of something quite cool, and hopefully we can keep improving, but great race,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy and Evans received a one-grid place penalty, which marred their race start, for not following red flag protocol during qualifying when McLaren’s Jake Hughes spun and crashed into barriers.
“Coming into the weekend, I was quite confident in my own expectations. But I must say, with FP1 and FP2, I thought I’m in for a difficult weekend, so the recovery was really nice.”
Season two and three champion Jean-Eric Vergne ended in sixth place, which gave the Frenchman enough points to become the second driver in Formula E history to surpass 1,000 career points scored (Lucas Di Grassi holds the record of 1,041).
NEOM McLaren’s Jake Hughes followed Vergne home in seventh, and Season Eight champion Stoffel Vandoorne of DS Penske was in eighth place.
Andretti’s Jake Dennis had a lacklustre end to his race weekend in ninth place after starting in 14th place, with new teammate Norman Nato rounding out the top ten in tenth, respectively.
Wehrlein’s teammate Anthony Felix Da Costa and Nico Mueller saw the end of their race with broken suspension for the former and the latter in the wall and to the 19th and last.
Chinese manufacturer ERT retired Sergio Sette Camara for technical issues and ABT CUPBRA Lucas Di Grassi retired after hitting barrier
Envision Racing’s Robin Frijns hit the wall, overcooking it on the exit of the Foro Sol as he overtook Mahindra’s Edoardo Mortara.
Brit Jake Dennis in the Andretti made up ground to an eventual ninth and points from 14th at the start after an uncharacteristic error in qualifying saw his title defence set off on the wrong foot. Dennis’ new teammate, Norman Nato, rounded out the top 10.
One of the dimmer moments came with the announcement of FE’s anticipated ‘Attack Charge’ being cancelled from implementation over the weekend, now pushed to Diriyah E-Prix weekend in Saudi Arabia, January 26–27.
This is the second time that the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez has played host to the Mexico E-Prix as the season opener following season nine in 2023, won by British driver Dennis.
Teams are expecting to compete in this year’s championship, making it a high-octane affair, navigating through challenging city circuits, and pushing their GEN3 electric race cars to the limit while promoting a future of clean energy.
The Formula E Championship will continue in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, with a double leg on January 26 and 27th. For real-time alerts and race time zones, check FE’s social media pages available on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Twitch, and YouTube.
| Pos. | Name | Car | Laps | Total time |
| 1 | Pascal Wehrlein (GER) | TAG Heuer Porsche | 37 | 50:15:506 |
| 2 | Sebastian Buemi (SWI) | Envision Racing | 37 | + 0:01:162 |
| 3 | Nick Cassidy (NZE) | Jaguar TCS Racing | 37 | + 0:02:079 |
| 4 | Maximilian Günther (GER) | Maserati MSG Racing | 37 | + 0:05:780 |
| 5 | Mitch Evans (NZE) | Jaguar TCS Racing | 37 | + 0:13:064 |
| 6 | Jean-Eric Vergne (FRA) | DS Penske | 37 | + 0:13:405 |
| 7 | Jake Hghes (GBR) | NEOM McLaren | 37 | + 0:13:916 |
| 8 | Stoffel Vandoorne (BEL) | DS Automobiles Penske | 37 | + 0:14:392 |
| 9 | Jake Dennis (GBR) | Andretti | 37 | + 0:14:767 |
| 10 | Norman Nato (FRA) | Andretti | 37 | + 0:15:312 |
