Formula E's points leader feels like the 'underdog' in title-decider

Let’s talk firsts and Jake Dennis. 

The first winner of the Gen3 era. The first Gen3 champion. The first polesitter. The first winner of the current season in Sao Paulo. The first driver to win at the venue he heads to as championship leader this weekend – the London ExCeL arena.

But here’s the weird thing about Jake Dennis this season. He goes to that venue, the scene of two of his nine Formula E wins, as an outsider, in his own eyes, and indeed those of most observers.

Formula E title picture

1 Dennis 146 points
2 Evans -2
3 Wehrlein -5
4 Rowland -14
5 Mortara -30
6 Da Costa -33
7 Cassidy -42
8 Mueller -44
9 De Vries -52

Mitch Evans and Pascal Wehrlein have felt like the two key drivers in the world championship scrap this season, yet they have stumbled in recent races, allowing Dennis in like the proverbial vampire with the scent of blood in their nostrils.

“I kind of still feel like the underdog,” Dennis told The Race. 

“I feel like it's been Mitch's and Pascal's to lose, and I've just arrived at the party and am somehow still leading it.”

And it’s going to be some party. Especially if mind games start. Oh, wait, they have!

“Honestly, if I don't win it, I would love to see Mitch (Evans) win it,” says Dennis. 

“I feel like that bloke has been the bridesmaid for so many years, and if there's one deserving champion out of a Gen3 era, I do feel like it's him because he's finished second so many times.

Dennis means this, and it's genuine, but there’s a nice wee by-product in saying that, especially when he knows that Porsche and Pascal Wehrlein will become aware of it pretty quickly. 

Andretti and Porsche will have their last race together in London. It’s been an itching kind of relationship for large chunks of its four-season duration. 

In 2023, his first championship season, Dennis enjoyed a 24-point lead heading into the last event. It was tense then, mostly due to some hostility from a non-title-challenging Wehrlein, something which famously saw a furious Michael Andretti confronting senior Porsche management.

It was ultimately all put to one side and hands were shaken, but it was a major milestone in the often less-than-cordial relationship. 

There is respect there definitely, but there will also be a great desire to beat each other in the great halls of ExCeL later this week.

Dennis was largely diffident about what it all might mean when asked if it could have an impact along the way.

“Nothing's changed really from the last race in Tokyo and we won't be accepting any new software which comes our way,” he said.

“We're kind of going into it with the same car (as Tokyo) and yeah, there's no denying it, they'll be doing their race and we'll be doing our race."

Dennis added: "I think ultimately they (Porsche) would never send a call to help Pascal because they kind of know I would never do it, and vice versa. I would never ask Porsche to help me because Pascal will be like ‘no way.’

“May the best man win really, and obviously we've got Mitch in the mix as well, who has da Costa, who's not in the title fight really. So, he's definitely got a wingman there."

Dennis’ two-point advantage over Evans, his five over Wehrlein and 14 over Rowland, is a slender one when 59 points in total are available. But he could have had a much larger gap had misfortune not visited him in Tokyo last month. 

It was there that a brief cut in his power via ailing energy on the final lap cost him seven points, and where 24 hours later a red flag cost him seven more. Yet, he still scored 37 points, his biggest double-header points haul since Rome in July 2023.

Can Drugovich Assist?

Context is everything in a title fight. Leaving Monaco less than six races and just 12 weeks ago, Dennis was eighth in the standings and 62 points off Evans. A shot at a second title was as far away as his pair of 13th place grid positions.

It was in that first race that he also climbed from his wrecked Porsche after being blended into the Nouvelle Chicane wall. As he walked back, he was liable to think only of Gen4, for which he was recently secure with Andretti via a new multi-year mega deal.

“It's quite a monumental turnaround, and we deserve to be in the position we're in because we’ve performed better than everyone else, clearly,” reckoned Dennis.

“It's just a really upward trajectory lately over these past races in Asia. Did I expect to be leading it, heading into Sanya? Absolutely not. But here we are. We're in this position.”

And it’s a good one to be in, although with Jaguar and Porsche more often than not having both their factory cars at the front of the field, Dennis may need a little help from a friend. His team-mate Felipe Drugovich. 

“A lot of people can manipulate the race and we've already seen tactics in Tokyo, where other guys are sort of placing themselves perfectly in that pit boost window to then slow the leaders down when we pit,” reckons Dennis.

“I could see a little bit of that again, but maybe manipulating the drivers' championship. I don't really want to see any of it, but London is chaos; I think the PitBoost will bring out a whole different element. The second race will be a little bit better, as you’re not dropping back so far.” 

If Drugovich can assist, it will be an extra team-mate boost for Dennis, something he’s rarely had in his almost seven-season Formula E career. 

“Ultimately, we need both cars up there. I need Felipe by my side to help me try and win this thing because I think definitely Jaguar and Porsche will have both their guys there," Dennis said.

“Felipe's been on good form. Tokyo was a rough one, but I think he'll bounce back well and be there for the team.”