RACE REPORT: 2025 Shanghai E-Prix I
Race Notes
- The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship returned to Shanghai, China for Rounds 10 and 11 of Season 11 this weekend as the Andretti Formula E team took to the track for Free Practice 1 yesterday, with Jake Dennis finishing ninth and teammate Nico Mueller 12th.
- Track action resumed this morning as preparations continued for Andretti Formula E with Free Practice 2 at the Shanghai International Circuit. Wrapping up the session, both drivers finished in the top-10 as Dennis took the checkered in sixth with Mueller in ninth.
- Both Andretti Formula E drivers took part in Group A of Qualifying, with Dennis progressing into the Duels having finished second in the session, as teammate Mueller missed out on the top four by two tenths of a second, classifying seventh
- In Qualifying, Dennis progressed to the Quarter Finals after finishing second in Group A, marking his 28th Duel appearance and securing his fifth top-eight start of the season, while Mueller narrowly missed out on a Duel spot – ending seventh in a tightly contested session by less than two tenths.
- The opening stages of the E-Prix saw a classic Formula E peloton style race, with positions changing each lap as the field attempted to save energy for the sprint to the flag the end of the race.
- Dennis was able to remain in the points-paying positions until the mandatory PIT BOOST stop shuffled him to the back of the field. As a result of saving his Attack Modes for the latter part of the E-Prix, the No. 27 conserved energy at the rear before trying to use his extra 50 kWh of power to gain positions in the closing stages. Unfortunately, energy-limiting factors stalled Dennis’ progress and 17th was all the Brit could manage.
- On the other side of the garage, Mueller was able to take advantage of a Lap 3 incident at Turn 12 involving Jaguar TCS Racing’s Nick Cassidy and make his way into the top 10. As a result, the No. 51 opted for an aggressive energy strategy, which opened up an early PIT BOOST stop. However, with an issue releasing the pit limiter out of the pit lane and difficult energy targets in the closing stages of the E-Prix, the Swiss driver dropped positions to those around him in late Attack Modes and took the checkered in 15th.
Race Results
Jake Dennis
No. 27 Andretti Porsche 99X Electric
P17
| Started | P7 |
| Standings | P8 (56 points) |
Qualifying
- Dennis was able to finish second in Group A, progressing into the Quarter Final Duel.
- The British driver was catching Jaguar TCS Racing’s Nick Cassidy on his 350 kWh lap, though missed out on the Semi-Finals by two tenths of a second.
- The No. 27 driver’s performance in qualifying today marked his 28th career appearance in the Duels and his fifth top-eight start of the season.
Race
- As the race began in classic Formula E peloton style, Dennis shuffled positions amongst the top 10 in order to save energy for the latter stages of the E-Prix.
- As the majority of the field took their first Attack Mode, the No. 27 held off and waited patiently to offset his extra 50 kWh of power to the rest of the field.
- On Lap 12, Dennis took his first Attack Mode for four minutes and dropped back to 15th. With the extra power, the Brit was able to race his way into the top five by lap 15 and boxed shortly after for his PIT BOOST.
- Emerging 19th, Dennis set about saving energy before using his final Attack Mode on Lap 25 in an attempt to climb his way up the standings. Unfortunately, energy restrictions at the end of the race denied the No. 27 from being able to progress, consequently taking the checkered in 17th.
“Overall, it was a positive start to the day with a strong Free Practice 2 and one of our better qualifying performances of the season. The pace was definitely there so that was a positive. Unfortunately, things didn’t quite go our way in the race with the timing of the PIT BOOST and energy targets holding us back from making real progress. We’ll go away, analyze everything tonight and come back stronger for tomorrow’s race.”
Nico Mueller
No. 51 Andretti Porsche 99X Electric
P15
| Started | P13 |
| Standings | P18 (24 points) |
Qualifying
- Also running in Group A, Mueller came close to a Duel appearance but was edged out at the last moment, ending the session seventh in an incredibly tight field, missing out on progression by less than two tenths.
Race
- In the opening sequence of the race, Mueller was able to tactically make his way up into the top 10 as the pack at the front conserved energy.
- On Lap 8, Mueller took an early Attack Mode and three laps later was able to make his way up into second. Spending extra energy with the 350 kWh of power, the No. 51 was the first driver of the race to take his mandatory PIT BOOST. As a result, Mueller became the net pit-leader of the E-Prix, with the rest of the grid yet to take their stop.
- Unfortunately, exiting the pit lane after his PIT BOOST stop, the No. 51 suffered an issue with the pit limiter release and lost significant time in the process.
- Taking an early second Attack Mode, Mueller made some ground as those around him saved their extra power for later, however, became energy limited in the closing stages of the E-Prix and therefore finished 15th.
“I felt pretty good in the car today. We had decent pace in Free Practice 2 and came really close to making it into the Duels during Qualifying , just missing out by a small margin. In the race, we went for an aggressive strategy and were well positioned early on, but the energy targets in the closing stages and my issue exiting the pits after my PIT BOOST made it tough to hold position. There’s definitely potential in the package, so we’ll regroup with the team and look to turn it into points tomorrow.”
Roger Griffiths
Team Principal
“A terribly disappointing end to the day after a promising Free Practice 2 and Qualifying sessions with the team being near the top of the timesheets, which was encouraging to see. With Jake getting through the group stages and starting seventh on the grid, we had high hopes for a good race finish from there, though we’re still at a little bit of a loss as to understanding where things went wrong for us. Coming into the E-Prix, we felt that we would be competitive in this peloton style race because typically, these types of E-Prixs are our strength. However, a combination of handling issues with the car and some perplexity around the strategy that we were running, culminated in our finish today. We executed to our plan, but for some reason, it just didn’t come our way.
Nico did a really good job to go from 13th all the way to the front, but we struggled with overall energy management, which may well have been linked to the poor handling characteristics that we were dealing with, leading to over consuming energy. We’ll dig through the data this evening and see what we can learn from that and turn our focus towards tomorrow. We need to learn from these challenging days and move forward as a team, and I’m sure we can come back a lot more competitive tomorrow. We’ve got a close eye on what’s happening with the weather too, because that could play a significant part in the day.”
