How wet Shanghai opener changed Formula E title fight again
Porsche's Pascal Wehrlein slashed his Formula E championship deficit to leader Mitch Evans from 28 points to just three with a comfortable win in a wet first Shanghai race.
Wehrlein led much of a wild first half of the race as the teams put energy concerns to the backs of their minds to focus on maximising track position before expected heavy rain - with the poor forecast having already prompted organisers to bring the race start forward by three hours.
Amid heavy pressure from Jaguar's Antonio Felix da Costa and Andretti's Sanya winner Jake Dennis in particular, Wehrlein managed to hold onto the lead for the majority of the first stint and emerge from the pit boost sequence still in front.
The safety car came out (somewhat prematurely in the eyes of many drivers on team radio) at two-thirds distance when the rain intensified, and once racing resumed in fully wet conditions Wehrlein simply stretched away - leading by nearly three seconds for a spell before winning by 1.6s.
Da Costa stayed clear of Andretti duo Dennis and Felipe Drugovich for second.
Evans never had the pace to get right to the front, losing more ground in the wet part of the race and finishing only eighth.
Da Costa and Dennis's podiums significantly bolster their own title hopes, bringing them up to third and fourth, 23 and 24 points off Evans respectively.
They were helped by poor days for Edoardo Mortara and Oliver Rowland.
Mahindra driver Mortara qualified only 17th, but good pace during the pit window and an early attack mode got him into the top three - yet also left him very vulnerable as he used his attack mode before the safety car and heavier rain. He fell back to 10th as he only had rear-wheel-drive in the worst of the weather, then was later demoted to 15th with a penalty for a clash with Jean-Eric Vergne.
Reigning champion Rowland also scored zero points having lacked pace in the wet and fallen to 13th after a mid-race spell in the lower top 10.
Results
1 Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche)
2 Antonio Felix da Costa (Jaguar) +1.633s
3 Jake Dennis (Andretti) +4.709s
4 Felipe Drugovich (Andretti) +5.425s
5 Nyck de Vries (Mahindra) +8.407s
6 Jean-Eric Vergne (Citroen) +12.497s
7 Joel Eriksson (Envision) +12.714s
8 Mitch Evans (Jaguar) +14.120s
9 Maximilian Guenther (DS Penske) +14.674s
10 Nico Mueller (Porsche) +15.749s
11 Zane Maloney (Abt Lola Yamaha) +16.375s
12 Dan Ticktum (Kiro) +17.927s
13 Oliver Rowland (Nissan) +18.858s
14 Pepe Marti (Kiro) +20.103s
15 Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra) +20.167s
16 Taylor Barnard (DS Penske) +20.684s
17 Sebastien Buemi (Envision) +21.068s
18 Lucas Di Grassi (Abt Lola Yamaha) +21.145s
19 Nick Cassidy (Citroen) +37.715s
20 Norman Nato (Nissan) +1 lap
Leading championship positions
1 Evans 132
2 Wehrlein 129
3 Da Costa 110
4 Dennis 109
5 Rowland 109
6 Mortara 104
