Championship leader fastest in disrupted FP2 ahead of Round 3 race day in Jeddah! Official F1 Journal Formula E Jeddah E-Prix Free Practice 2 report

Credit: Alastair Staley

Portuguese racing driver and championship leader Antonio Felix Da Costa was fastest in the free practice 2 session, in Jeddah on Friday.

It was a heavily disrupted session with two red flags in total taking place and ruining the flow the drivers had in the session. However, Da Costa was able to show his pace when the session was flowing and he ended it fastest with a 1:15.470.

Da Costa was fastest ahead of the DS Penske of Maximilian Gunther who finished second, a total of 0.124 behind the championship leader. The Maserati of Jake Hughes was third while the two Nissan drivers of Norman Nato and Oliver Rowland completed the top five.

Reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein made it two Porsche cars in the top 10 as he would finish ninth overall at the end of the 40-minute session.

How Formula E free practice 2 unfolded in Jeddah 

Friday February 14. Often famous for being the date of Valentine's Day, in the world of Formula E, it would signify the first race day ever to be held in Jeddah in the history of the all-electric world championship.

The day would begin as race days in Formula E tend to begin and that is with free practice 2 to warm the drivers up for the later two intense sessions of qualifying and the E-Prix itself for round 3 of the 2024/25 world championship.

On Thursday, in free practice 1, it was dominant from Nissan as they topped the session 1-2 with Oliver Rowland fastest ahead of his French teammate Norman Nato. Like FP1, the free practice 2 session would last 40 minutes.

The green light would come on at the end of the pit lane meaning the 40-minute practice session would be underway with cars piling out of the pit lane and onto the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein would be the first driver to lay down a benchmark lap time of representative pace, and would put his Porsche to the top of the time sheets. Drivers were beginning to find more and more pace as they gained an additional feel for the circuit.

Wehrlein would be soon dislodged from first place with many drivers finding time. Nico Mueller of Andretti would be the next driver to have his lap time send him to the top of the timing sheets.

Jean-Eric Vergne would be the next driver to go quickest from Mitch Evans as Wehrlein would return to the top three following an improved lap time. At the start of race day in Jeddah many drivers were finding time as the track was ramping up.

At the end of the first 10 minutes, it would be the Lola Yamaha ABT car of Lucas Di Grassi that would be top of the time sheets. He would lead championship leader Antonio Felix Da Costa who would be second quickest with 30 minutes remaining.

Far from ideal to the start of the session for Envision Racing's Robin Frijns as the Dutchman came to a stop at turn 13. He was reporting a issue that required a system restart. This would bring a halt to the session as the red flag was flown. 

Frijns would get his car back going again but would head to the pit lane so his team could review the data and inspect his car to see what went wrong and what the underlying issue was. Soon enough the red flag period would be over and green flag track conditions would be back.

Due to the delay with the red flag, the new FIA Race Director Marek Hanaczewski and Race Control would make the decision to extend the session by an additional four minutes. 

Drivers would be out on circuit and they would be continuing to set lap times and continuing to look to improve their personal best laps and find themselves in higher positions on the timing sheets.

DS Penske would have a stint of success in the session as with 20 minutes of the session remaining both of their drivers would be in the top five. It would be their German talent Maximilian Gunther at the top of the times.

Gunther led NEOM McLaren's Sam Bird, Porsche's Wehrlein, Cupra Kiro's David Beckmann and his own teammate Jean-Eric Vergne which would round the top five with half of the session remaining in Jeddah, in FP2.

The time of 1:15.594 of Gunther would continue to be the time to beat as he was having a decent stint at the top of the time sheets, with his lap being a tenth ahead of Norman Nato in second. Oliver Rowland had made it two Nissan drivers in the top three as he moved up into third.

Nissan were looking strong throughout the season and both cars would be showing consistent pace following their successes of free practice 1.

Gunther's lap would soon be beaten as the championship leader Da Costa would put his team top of the times for Porsche, making it be a Porsche, a DS Penske and both Nissan machines in the top four with just under 15 minutes of the session remaining.

Da Costa and Gunther would remain the top two as the clock ticked down to just 10 minutes remaining in the FP2 session at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Jake Hughes elevated himself to third to jump ahead of Nato and Rowland in the top five.

Most drivers would be in the pits as the time began to tick down in the final 10 with Da Costa remaining unbeaten at the top of the time sheets with his personal best lap of the session with a 1:15.479.

Five minutes remaining and this would begin to change with drivers looking to practice their qualifying runs ahead of the day's later session, which would set the grid for the first ever E-Prix to take place at Jeddah.

To bring a halt to the running would be a red flag with three minutes remaining in the session as Mahindra's Nyck De Vries and Maserati's Stoffel Vandoorne would collide with Vandoorne unaware of De Vries charging through at turn 3, while on a fast lap.

This would be investigated after the session and also the session would not be resumed with so little time left so no more free practice for the drivers before the qualifying and racing action to come for round three of the championship.

Antonio Felix Da Costa was the fastest driver in the session and ended the 40-minute session at the top of the time sheets. The championship leader put his Porsche to the top of the times ahead of DS Penske's Maximilian Gunther who was second. Jake Hughes for Maserati would complete the top three.

Another successful free practice session for Nissan, as they continued their positive start to the first double-round weekend of the season as Norman Nato finished fourth ahead of his British teammate Oliver Rowland, who respectively was fifth.

Following them was two Swiss drivers in Mahindra's Edoardo Mortara and Andretti's Nico Mueller sixth and seventh respectively. NEOM McLaren's Sam Bird was eighth with reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein and Cupra Kiro's David Beckmann rounding off the top 10.

Free Practice had now been concluded for round three of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, following the end to free practice 2. Attention would turn to the rest of Friday's action with the knockout qualifying session to come as well as the first ever Jeddah E-Prix.

2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship: Round 3 - Jeddah E-Prix free practice 2 result

1. Antonio Felix Da Costa (Portugal, Porsche)
2. Maximilian Gunther (Germany, DS Penske)
3. Jake Hughes (Great Britain, Maserati)
4. Norman Nato (France, Nissan)
5. Oliver Rowland (Great Britain, Nissan)
6. Edoardo Mortara (Switzerland, Mahindra)
7. Nico Mueller (Switzerland, Andretti)
8. Sam Bird (Great Britain, NEOM McLaren)
9. Pascal Wehrlein (Germany, Porsche)
10. David Beckmann (Germany, Cupra Kiro)
11. Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium, Maserati)
12. Nyck De Vries (Netherlands, Mahindra)
13. Jean-Eric Vergne (France, DS Penske)
14. Zane Maloney (Barbados, Lola Yamaha ABT)
15. Dan Ticktum (Great Britain, Cupra Kiro)
16. Sebastian Buemi (Switzerland, Envision Racing)
17. Taylor Barnard (Great Britain, NEOM McLaren)
18. Jake Dennis (Great Britain, Andretti)
19. Nick Cassidy (New Zealand, Jaguar)
20. Lucas Di Grassi (Brazil, Lola Yamaha ABT)
21. Mitch Evans (New Zealand, Jaguar)
22. Robin Frijns (Netherlands, Envision Racing)

Brandon Whiteside
Writer & X Contributor - F1 Journal