Formula E: Oliver Rowland wins his second victory of the season

      Formula E - a special kind of motorsport, which is distinguished not only by the fact that the participants of this championship compete in cars on electric traction. Another characteristic feature of this series - its unpredictability. It would not be a great exaggeration to say that to win the race here can win almost any of those who go to the start, because in Formula E is very important factor such as luck. In the course of the race is constantly occurring change positions, and sometimes it turns into a real jumble. But, of course, as in any business, in this championship requires skill, and if the driver demonstrates high stability and regularly rises to the podium, it says a lot. In the first race of the weekend in Jeddah Taylor Barnard finished third, and today 20-year-old pilot McLaren became the youngest in the history of Formula E winner of qualifying, ahead of the final session of the experienced Oliver Rowland.

      However, before the start of Saturday's race Taylor admitted that start from pole - the option is not the best, and to hold on to this position will be quite difficult. "But I will try to avoid trouble and mistakes on the first five circles, and there we'll see how everything will develop", - he promised. When Barnard said that to remain the leader will be difficult, he also meant that he has a very strong rivals. Next to his McLaren on the first row of the starting field stood Rowland's Nissan, followed by Jake Hughes and Antonio Felix da Costa, with Edoardo Mortara and Max Guenther starting from the third row. The third result in qualifying was shown by Stoffel Vandoorne, Hughes' teammate in the factory Maserati team, but was disqualified because the fire extinguisher on his car was not filled. As a result, the 2022 World Champion was disqualified and pushed to the very tail. Taylor Barnard got off to a great start, holding the lead, while Jake Hughes decisively overtook Rowland to move into second position. Behind them in the fourth corner of the first lap there was a hard contact between Gunter and da Costa: the winner of yesterday's race made a clear mistake on braking and sent the Porsche of the Portuguese into a spin. Both had to return to the boxes, and the electric car DS Penske of the German driver remained there. After a short repair, Da Costa returned to the track, but not for long: on the next lap his car stopped on the roadside. After four laps Barnard continued to lead, i.e. everything went according to his plan. But curiously, by the 5th lap Lucas di Grassi, who started from a distant 17th position, was one of the first to use Attack Mode, a mode of increased power, and quickly made his way to the second position, although it was clear that it was temporary. On lap 8, he was already fifth, with the drivers activating Attack Mode one after the other, resulting in frequent position changes. By the 10th lap in the leaders came Rowland, followed by Jean-Eric Vergne, followed by Pascal Wehrlein, who started 14th, and Barnard was only fifth. But after a lap he regained three positions and moved up to the 2nd place. At the same time, the gap in the first third of the distance remained minimal, and this said that while the racers are trying to save battery power, intending to attack closer to the finish. The mandatory pit stop with express recharging of batteries during the double stage is held only in the first race of the weekend, and today everything happened according to the classical scenario, i.e. on the track there was a real fuss.

      For example, Envision's Robin Frijns took the lead on lap 11, but in order to briefly draw attention to himself he used much more power than his nearest pursuers, which inevitably put him at a disadvantage later in the race. On lap 14, Hughes used the high power mode to overtake several rivals and move up to second position. But immediately after him, Rowland activated Attack Mode and within a few corners he was back in the lead, and then immediately pulled away from the peloton by three tenths.

      Barnard also used Attack Mode, and soon it allowed him to overtake Rowland, but by lap 20 Oliver had overtaken him once again with a decisive and beautiful overtake in front of the Bus Stop chicane, like the famous combination of turns in Spa. With fewer and fewer laps to go, many riders were once again using Attack Mode, so the exchange of positions continued. Jake Dennis, the 2023 World Champion, still driving for Andretti, suddenly took the lead. Rowland was second, followed by Vergne, Barnard was in 4th position and Hughes was chasing him, but after a couple of laps Rowland was back in the lead, Barnard was back in second, Vergne was in the top three and Dennis was back outside the top five. On the last two laps, Jake Hughes got ahead of Vergne and tried to attack Barnard, but he was quite aggressive and forced his rival off the track, while remaining second. While they were fighting each other, Rowland took a four-second lead over Pelton, and there was no doubt about his victory. Barnard still held on to second position and crossed the finish line 5.8 seconds after Oliver, who recovered from yesterday's relative failure and consolidated his lead in the championship. But Taylor, thanks to his 2nd place in today's race, which is his best result during his short career in Formula E, moved up to second in the individual standings - remember, it was only his sixth race in the electric series. They were joined on the all-British podium by Jake Hughes, who was even luckier, because in the last corners of the race he was actively attacked by Dennis. It seems that Hughes was the only one of the drivers of the top three who was not quite satisfied with the result, although it was only his second podium in Formula E and the first in Maserati. He probably didn't like the fact that Barnard was very aggressive on the last lap, but Taylor, commenting on the race results, admitted that he did so deliberately: "Sometimes you have to be as aggressive as possible, and I did what I had to do". The next, the fifth stage of the season, will be held on April 12 in Florida - the city circuit in Miami after a 10-year break will again host the race Formula E.