2023 Jakarta E-Prix I

2023 Jakarta E-Prix I
The Jakarta E-Prix circuit was unchanged for 2023.
Race Information
Date	3 June 2023
E-Prix No.	110 (10 of 2022/23)
Official Name	2023 Gulavit Jakarta E-Prix I
Location	Jakarta International E-Prix Circuit Ancol, Jakarta, Indonesia
Format	95 km / 60 min
Lap length	2.370 km (1.473 mi)
Distance	36 laps / 85.320 km (53.015 mi)
Support Race
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Maximilian Günther
Team	Maserati MSG Racing
Time	1:08.141 (125.208 km/h)
Fastest Lap
Driver	Nick Cassidy
Team	Envision Racing
Fastest Lap	1:09.797 on lap 10
ePrix Result
First	Second	Third
Pascal Wehrlein	Jake Dennis	Maximilian Günther
Winner Team	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team
Time	42:21.995 (120.831 km/h)
ePrix Guide
Previous		Next
2023 Monaco E-Prix		2023 Jakarta E-Prix II
Post-Race Test

The 2023 Jakarta E-Prix I, officially known as the 2023 Gulavit Jakarta E-Prix I, was the tenth round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, held at the Jakarta International E-Prix Circuit in Ancol, Jakarta, Indonesia, on 3 June 2023. The race would see Pascal Wehrlein secure his third victory of the campaign, having exchanged blows with compatriot Maximilian Günther for the lead in the first half of the race.

Günther had proved to be the star of qualifying, the German racer piloting the #7 Maserati to a first pole position for the Italian marque since the 1958 Argentine Grand Prix, defeating Jake Dennis in the final by three tenths of a second. En-route to the final Günther had taken on teammate Edoardo Mortara and then defeated Wehrlein, while Dennis overcame Robin Frijns and Jean-Éric Vergne in the #27 Avalanche Andretti run Porsche.

At the start it would remain advantage Günther as a clean start catapulted him into the lead, while behind Wehrlein hooked his getaway up well to leap into second ahead of Dennis. Behind it was a clean start with Stoffel Vandoorne following the #94 Porsche through to third from sixth, while Nick Cassidy surged up to eighth after qualifying outside of the top ten.

The early laps ticked away without major incident or seismic changes to the order until lap four, when Wehrlein sent the #94 Porsche scything down the inside of Günther for the lead into turn one, before darting away as Günther slipped back towards Vandoorne. Vandoorne would then become the first of the leaders to take Attack Mode on the same lap, the boost having been extended to eight minutes in Jakarta, with the rest of the lead group following through over the next few laps.

Günther reclaimed the lead on lap eleven as Wehrlein went early for his second helping of AM, although with Günther taking the boost on the following tour the order at the summit of the field was restored with Wehrlein still leading. Indeed, by the time the field had completed their second AM boosts the order was largely unchanged, although now the top three of Wehrlein, Günther and Dennis had broken slightly clear, while Vandoorne and Vergne were giving chase as they harried by Cassidy.

Cassidy's challenge came to a head on lap twenty, as the New Zealander tried an ambitious lunge on Vergne into the first corner, only to half-spin and lost a heap of time when he found himself having to brake a lot harder than he initially anticipated. That time loss would see him also lose the c. 2% energy advantage he had over the rest of the leaders as he pushed to catch back up with the #25 DS Penske.

As the race wore on the two black-gold cars, with the frustrated Cassidy and a on-coming Mortara, would fall off the back of the lead trio, with Dennis in particular looking in a particularly racey mood as he sized up a lunge on Günther for second. With twelve laps to go he fired the #27 Andretti down the inside of Günther to claim second, only for a retaliation from Günther a lap later to leave the two fighting for several corners, allowing Wehrlein to build a one second lead and save a bit more energy.

That little break in the #94 Porsche's favour told, for as the race entered its final phase the German pilot was told he could run at maximum pace for the remainder of the race, meaning Dennis and Günther would have to work hard to wrestle the race from the German pilot. Further back Mortara was able to lunge past Cassidy as the New Zealander found himself still stuck behind the DS duo, while outside of the top ten the two factory Jaguars came to blows, Sam Bird making a disasterous lunge at teammate Mitch Evans that ended with the #9 car out of the race.

The inter-Jaguar collision would be the last incident of note during the race, with Wehrlein able to keep Dennis at arm's length over the final couple of laps to secure his third win of the campaign and reignite his title challenge. The Brit came home second to the sister Porsche, with Günther in close proximity, while Vandoorne was a comparatively lonely fourth ahead of Vergne, Mortara and Cassidy. António Félix da Costa was next up having once again had to fight from the back of the field due to a poor qualifying result, while Frijns and Jake Hughes rounded out the scorers.

Background

A month would pass before the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship gathered itself together once again, with the series finding itself back at another venue that had proved instantly popular. The Jakarta International E-Prix Circuit had debuted the previous season in 2021/22, and had received universal praise from fans and drivers alike, resulting in Formula E making the 2022/23 visit a double-header in order to capitalise on what had been one of the best attended E-Prix since the Covid-19 Pandemic. The circuit itself was unchanged for Season Nine, having intially been created with the Generation 3 ruleset in mind, with the Attack Mode activiation zone remaining at turn sixteen as before.

Rookie Runs

Ahead of the Jakarta E-Prix there would be two changes to the field, with two rookies joining the fray in-place of vastly experienced racers. The first had been known of since the schedule for the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans had been formalised, with André Lotterer stating early on during the 2022/23 season that his duties with the factory Porsche Penske team would take precedence over his FE drive with Avalanche Andretti. The German racer hence missed the race in Jakarta to instead complete the Le Mans test-day, which would take place on the same weekend as the Jakarta E-Prix, leaving the #36 car in the hands of Porsche's reserve driver David Beckmann, who had made his public FE debut at the 2023 Rookie Test in Berlin a few weeks earlier.

The other change, in contrast, came as a surprise, with Oliver Rowland and Mahindra Racing mutually agreeing to part ways ahead of the trip to Indonesia for an unspecified reason, and one not related to his hand injury sustained at the 2023 Monaco E-Prix. His replacement, who would take over the #8 Mahindra for the rest of the campaign, was found in the form of Roberto Merhi, who had tested for the Indian team at the 2023 Rookie Test and had been talking to various teams about a drive in previous seasons. Merhi's pace at the test was praised by Mahindra Team Principal Frederic Bertrand, although given Mahindra's overall lack of pace the Spanish racer was not expected to seriously challenge for points on his FE debut.

Attack Advances

On the eve of the trip to Jakarta the FIA and FE announced their first variation of the season to the Attack Mode boost, with the time extended to eight minutes for both of the races in Jakarta. The change meant that revisions were made to the patterns in which drivers could take the boost, with the two activations either split as 2-6, 4-4 or 6-2, double the previous division for four minutes. Elsewhere, there was a reduction in usable energy for both races, limited to 36 kWh, while it was also revealed that the Second Race would be two laps longer in order to create more strategic options.

Cassidy's Climb

After seven races there was finally a new name atop the Championship standings as the ninth round of the campaign came to an end, with Nick Cassidy heading the field after his maiden Monaco triumph. Indeed, the New Zealander's second win in as many races had left him on 121 points, twenty ahead of former leader Pascal Wehrlein, whose run of only minor point scores since Hyderabad was causing his title bid to unravel. Furthermore, the German ace was just five ahead of Jake Dennis, the only other man to lead the Championship in 2022/23, while Mitch Evans and Jean-Éric Vergne were both major contenders in fourth and fifth.

In the Teams' Championship it was also all change at the head of the hunt, with Envision Racing leaving the Principality of Monaco with a lead of thirteen points after Cassidy's victory. Former leaders Porsche had hence slipped to second, their haul of one point from Monte Carlo to blame for losing the lead, while third placed Jaguar Racing had also closed in on the German manufacturer, trailing them by just fourteen points. Behind Avalanche Andretti had continued their mid-season revival as they climbed back up to fourth ahead of DS Penske, while Nissan were the biggest movers of the day as they leapt from tenth to seventh after their best haul of the campaign.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2023 Jakarta E-Prix I is displayed below:

2023 Jakarta E-Prix I Entry List
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Car
1	Stoffel Vandoorne	DS Penske	DS	E-Tense FE23
3	Sérgio Sette Câmara	NIO 333 Racing Formula E Team	NIO	333 ER9
4	Robin Frijns	ABT Cupra Formula E Team	Mahindra	M9Electro
5	Jake Hughes	NEOM McLaren Formula E Team	Nissan	e-4ORCE 04
7	Maximilian Günther	Maserati MSG Racing	Maserati	Tipo Folgore
8	Roberto Merhi	Mahindra Racing	Mahindra	M9Electro
9	Mitch Evans	Jaguar TCS Racing	Jaguar	I-Type 6
10	Sam Bird	Jaguar TCS Racing	Jaguar	I-Type 6
11	Lucas di Grassi	Mahindra Racing	Mahindra	M9Electro
13	António Félix da Costa	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	Porsche	99X Electric
16	Sébastien Buemi	Envision Racing	Jaguar	I-Type 6
17	Norman Nato	Nissan Formula E Team	Nissan	e-4ORCE 04
23	Sacha Fenestraz	Nissan Formula E Team	Nissan	e-4ORCE 04
25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Penske	DS	E-Tense FE23
27	Jake Dennis	Avalanche Andretti Formula E	Porsche	99X Electric
33	Dan Ticktum	NIO 333 Racing Formula E Team	NIO	333 ER9
36	David Beckmann	Avalanche Andretti Formula E	Porsche	99X Electric
37	Nick Cassidy	Envision Racing	Jaguar	I-Type 6
48	Edoardo Mortara	Maserati MSG Racing	Maserati	Tipo Folgore
51	Nico Müller	ABT Cupra Formula E Team	Mahindra	M9Electro
58	René Rast	NEOM McLaren Formula E Team	Nissan	e-4ORCE 04
94	Pascal Wehrlein	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	Porsche	99X Electric
Source:

Qualifying

Qualifying for the 2023 Jakarta E-Prix I would be conducted according to the knockout format, introduced ahead of season eight. The field would be split into two groups of eleven drivers, based on Championship position, with each group then getting ten minutes on track to complete as many laps as they wished at 300 kW. The fastest eight overall would then proceed to the knockout phase, now running at the maximum 350 kW qualifying mode, with the fastest from group A against the fourth fastest from group A and so on, until four drivers were left.

Those four would move on to the Semi-Final, with the winner of A1/A4 taking on the victor of A2/A3, while the triumphant driver of B3/B2 would take on B4/B1's winner. The winners from those duels would then go into the final, with the winner of that duel taking pole, while the runner-up would start from second, before any grid penalties were applied.

Post Qualifying

The final qualifying result for the 2023 Jakarta E-Prix I are outlined below:

2023 Jakarta E-Prix I Qualifying Results
Final
Heat	Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Grid
I	Win	7	Maximilian Günther	Maserati	1:08.141	—	1
	Lose	27	Jake Dennis	Avalanche Andretti	1:08.482	+0.341s	2
Semi-Finals
Heat	Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Grid
I	Win	27	Jake Dennis	Avalanche Andretti	1:08.381	—	F
	Lose	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Penske	1:08.740	+0.359s	4
II	Win	7	Maximilian Günther	Maserati	1:08.271	—	F
	Lose	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche	1:08.646	+0.375s	3
Quarter Finals
Heat	Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Grid
QF 1	Win	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Penske	1:08.510	—	SF
	Lose	1	Stoffel Vandoorne	DS Penske	1:08.588	+0.078s	5
QF 2	Win	27	Jake Dennis	Avalanche Andretti	1:08.477	—	SF
	Lose	4	Robin Frijns	ABT Cupra	1:08.957	+0.480s	7
QF 3	Win	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche	1:08.549	—	SF
	Lose	58	René Rast	McLaren	1:09.205	+0.656s	8
QF 4	Win	7	Maximilian Günther	Maserati	1:08.402	—	SF
	Lose	48	Edoardo Mortara	Maserati	1:08.704	+0.302s	6

Group Stage
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Grid	Group
1st	7	Maximilian Günther	Maserati	1:08.837	—	QF 4	GB
2nd	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche	1:08.866	+0.029s	QF 3	GB
3rd	27	Jake Dennis	Avalanche Andretti	1:09.013	+0.176s	QF 2	GA
4th	58	René Rast	McLaren	1:09.025	+0.188s	QF 3	GB
5th	1	Stoffel Vandoorne	DS Penske	1:09.108	+0.271s	QF 1	GA
6th	48	Edoardo Mortara	Maserati	1:09.135	+0.298s	QF 4	GB
7th	51	Nico Müller	ABT Cupra	1:09.191	+0.354s	9	GB
8th	9	Mitch Evans	Jaguar Racing	1:09.202	+0.365s	11	GB
9th	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Penske	1:09.205	+0.368s	QF 1	GA
10th	16	Sébastien Buemi	Envision Racing	1:09.216	+0.379s	13	GB
11th	4	Robin Frijns	ABT Cupra	1:09.271	+0.434s	QF 2	GA
12th	37	Nick Cassidy	Envision Racing	1:09.273	+0.436s	10	GA
13th	13	António Félix da Costa	Porsche	1:09.280	+0.443s	15	GB
14th	23	Sacha Fenestraz	Nissan	1:09.333	+0.496s	12	GA
15th	33	Dan Ticktum	NIO 333 Racing	1:09.339	+0.502s	14	GA
16th	17	Norman Nato	Nissan	1:09.405	+0.568s	17	GB
17th	10	Sam Bird	Jaguar Racing	1:09.410	+0.573s	16	GA
18th	36	David Beckmann	Avalanche Andretti	1:09.470	+0.633s	19	GB
19th	11	Lucas di Grassi	Mahindra Racing	1:09.562	+0.725s	21	GB
20th	3	Sérgio Sette Câmara	NIO 333 Racing	1:09.645	+0.808s	18	GA
21st	5	Jake Hughes	McLaren	1:09.933	+1.096s	20	GA
22nd	8	Roberto Merhi	Mahindra Racing	1:10.560	+1.723s	22	GA
Group A 110% Time: 1:15.914
Group B 110% Time: 1:15.720
Source:

Race

Result

The final classification of the 2023 Jakarta E-Prix I is displayed below, with the fastest lap setter indicated in italics, and the pole sitter shown in bold.

2023 Jakarta E-Prix I Race Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche	36	42:21.995	1:09.813	25
2nd	27	Jake Dennis	Avalanche Andretti	36	+0.477s	1:09.824	18
3rd	7	Maximilian Günther	Maserati	36	+1.413s	1:09.964	18
4th	1	Stoffel Vandoorne	DS Penske	36	+3.871s	1:10.020	12
5th	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Penske	36	+4.986s	1:10.048	10
6th	48	Edoardo Mortara	Maserati	36	+5.587s	1:10.088	8
7th	37	Nick Cassidy	Envision Racing	36	+5.982s	1:09.797	7
8th	13	António Félix da Costa	Porsche	36	+20.136s	1:10.063	4
9th	4	Robin Frijns	ABT Cupra	36	+21.687s	1:10.397	2
10th	5	Jake Hughes	McLaren	36	+23.356s	1:10.125	1
11th	51	Nico Müller	ABT Cupra	36	+23.792s	1:10.271
12th	17	Norman Nato	Nissan	36	+25.162s	1:10.161
13th	33	Dan Ticktum	NIO 333 Racing	36	+28.824s	1:10.410
14th	11	Lucas di Grassi	Mahindra Racing	36	+29.495s	1:10.423
15th*	58	René Rast	McLaren	36	+30.002s	1:10.008
16th	36	David Beckmann	Avalanche Andretti	36	+31.079s	1:10.344
17th	3	Sérgio Sette Câmara	NIO 333 Racing	36	+32.102s	1:10.341
18th	8	Roberto Merhi	Mahindra Racing	36	+46.662s	1:10.707
19th†	23	Sacha Fenestraz	Nissan	36	+48.822s	1:10.314
20th‡	10	Sam Bird	Jaguar Racing	36	+1:14.072	1:09.914
21st§	16	Sébastien Buemi	Envision Racing	36	+1:18.081	1:09.755ƒ
Ret	9	Mitch Evans	Jaguar Racing	33	Collision	1:10.153
Source:

• * Rast served a five second time penalty for causing a collision with Bird.
• ^† Fenestraz served an eighteen second time penalty (converted from a drive through penalty) for exceeding the maximum power output of 300 kW on lap 31.
• ^‡ Bird served a five second time penalty for causing a collision with Evans.
• ^§ Buemi served an eighteen second time penalty (converted from a drive through penalty) for activating Attack Mode too early.
• ^ƒ Buemi set the fastest lap of the race (1:09.755) but was ineligible to claim the bonus point as he failed to finish inside of the top ten.

Milestones

• Debut race for Roberto Merhi and David Beckmann.
  • Merhi became the first Spanish driver to race in Formula E since Jaime Alguersuari and Antonio Garcia competed in the 2015 Moscow ePrix.
• Maiden pole position for Maserati MSG Racing as an entrant.
  • Also the first pole for Maserati as a brand/manufacturer in the Formula E World Championship.
  • Maserati's first pole in single-seaters since the 1958 Argentine Grand Prix.
• Fourth victory for Pascal Wehrlein.
• Fifth victory for the Porsche Formula E Team.
  • Sixth win for Porsche as a powertrain supplier.

Standings

Nick Cassidy had retained the Championship lead with his points for seventh place and fastest lap in the first battle of Jakarta, although his advantage had been cut to just two at the head of the hunt. Indeed, long-time leader Pascal Wehrlein had got his title challenge back on track with his third win of the campaign, which had also been his first podium finish since his second win of the season in Diriyah. Jake Dennis had likewise reawoken his title credentials in third, having moved fourteen off the lead, with Jean-Éric Vergne up to fourth ahead of Mitch Evans, those two having slipped back from the main contenders.

In the Teams' Championship it had been another leap-frog scenario for the lead, as Porsche jumped back ahead of Envision Racing to head the pack, overturning a thirteen point deficit to a nine point advantage. Those two were in a class of their own, third placed Jaguar Racing having failed to score to fall 42 points behind, while Avalanche Andretti and DS Penske were level on 137 in fourth and fifth. Elsewhere, Maserati's biggest points haul of the campaign had sent them leaping into seventh, trailing sixth placed McLaren by 31 points, while Mahindra Racing and their customers ABT Cupra had remained at the foot of the table.

 

2022/23 Drivers Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Nick Cassidy 128 ◄0 2nd Pascal Wehrlein 126 ◄0 3rd Jake Dennis 114 ◄0 4th Jean-Éric Vergne 97 ▲1 5th Mitch Evans 94 ▼1 6th António Félix da Costa 72 ◄0 7th Sam Bird 62 ◄0 8th Sébastien Buemi 61 ◄0 9th Jake Hughes 46 ◄0 10th Maximilian Günther 42 ▲2 11th René Rast 40 ▼1 12th Stoffel Vandoorne 40 ▼1 13th André Lotterer 23 ◄0 14th Sacha Fenestraz 19 ◄0 15th Lucas di Grassi 18 ◄0 16th Dan Ticktum 18 ◄0 17th Edoardo Mortara 13 ▲3 18th Norman Nato 11 ▼1 19th Sérgio Sette Câmara 10 ▼1 20th Oliver Rowland 9 ▼1 21st Robin Frijns 5 ◄0 22nd Nico Müller 2 ◄0 23rd Kelvin van der Linde 0 ◄0 24th David Beckmann 0 ◄0 25th Roberto Merhi 0 ◄0

2022/23 Teams Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Porsche 198 ▲1 2nd Envision Racing 189 ▼1 3rd Jaguar Racing 156 ◄0 4th Avalanche Andretti 137 ◄0 5th DS Penske 137 ◄0 6th McLaren 86 ◄0 7th Maserati 55 ▲1 8th Nissan 30 ▼1 9th NIO 333 Racing 28 ◄0 10th Mahindra Racing 27 ◄0 11th ABT Cupra 7 ◄0

References

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