Controversial finish to Berlin E-Prix after extreme energy-saving
Mitch Evans defeated reigning series champion Oliver Rowland in a race of extreme energy-saving at the Berlin E-Prix.
Evans, who had announced he will be leaving the Jaguar team after 10 seasons at the end of this campaign and is set to join Opel, was among several drivers deliberately hanging back off the leading pack in the early stages of the race - as the field was circulating double-digit seconds off the pace, trying to conserve as much energy as possible.
He had the most energy in the field at the halfway point and preserved his energy advantage as he worked through the field.
A late full course yellow intervention for debris - a bit of front wing from Nico Mueller's Porsche after contact with Antonio Felix da Costa's Jaguar - set up a late dash to the finish at full tilt, with the leading trio of Evans, Oliver Rowland and Pascal Wehrlein monopolising the podium battle (but never quite close enough to exchange positions).
Rowland's finish to the race was briefly shrouded by controversy - as he was under the suspicion of having overtaken Wehrlein under yellow flags for the Mueller debris.
Third-place finisher Wehrlein hinted post-race that his side believed he should be promoted to second. However, the stewards cleared Rowland as the flag used in the moment was a slippery surface yellow-and-red flag - and The Race understands that while the onboard footage created the illusion of it being a full yellow flag on the light panel on the main straight, this wasn't actually the case (which is corroborated by certain frames of the footage).
Rowland leaves Berlin as the championship leader, having taken the lead back from Edo Mortara - a non-scorer on Sunday.
Sebastien Buemi (Envision) was a close fourth, ahead of Norman Nato (Nissan) - who lead the race by multiple seconds in the early going.
Seventeen finishers were split by 15 seconds in the end, with the odd ones out being Da Costa (who seemingly had a puncture after the Dennis contact), Nick Cassidy (who broke a front wing in contact with Buemi) and Nyck de Vries (who retired with a damaged suspension after four-into-one chaos with Buemi, Cassidy and team-mate Mortara).
Race results
1 Mitch Evans (Jaguar)
2 Oliver Rowland (Nissan) +0.822s
3 Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche) +1.111s
4 Sebastien Buemi (Envision) +1.639s
5 Norman Nato (Nissan) +4.424s
6 Jake Dennis (Andretti) +5.940s
7 Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra) +6.325s
8 Jean-Eric Vergne (Citroen) +7.604s
9 Felipe Drugovich (Andretti) +8.491s
10 Joel Eriksson (Envision) +8.965s
11 Taylor Barnard (DS Penske) +10.216s
12 Pepe Marti (Cupra Kiro) +11.712s
13 Nico Mueller (Porsche) +12.747s
14 Dan Ticktum (Cupra Kiro) +13.212s
15 Max Guenther (DS Penske) +14.774s
16 Lucas Di Grassi (Lola Yamaha Abt) +14.873s
17 Zane Maloney (Lola Yamaha Abt) +15.342s
18 Antonio Felix da Costa (Jaguar) +36.559s
DNF Nick Cassidy (Citroen)
DNF Nyck de Vries (Mahindra)
