Oliver Rowland fastest in Sao Paulo E-Prix opening practice

Credit: Andrew Ferraro

A very strong start to the weekend for Nissan saw their drivers finish 1-2 in the opening free practice session of the season on Friday, as Oliver Rowland was fastest.

Rowland took the top spot in a narrow margin as he and his new teammate Norman Nato showed great speed towards the end of the session to end on top of the first practice session of the new campaign.

The British talent finished ahead of his Nissan teammate in a 1-2 whereas 2023 champion Jake Dennis was third for Andretti. A great effort from Jake as he Edoardo Mortara and Taylor Barnard completed the top five.

Friday running would just consist of the one free practice 1 session before free practice 2, qualifying and the E=Prix will all take place on Saturday.

How Free Practice 1 for the Sao Paulo E-Prix unfolded

After the long wait since July, when the previous Formula E Championship concluded in London, race weekend action was finally back for a brad new season with new drivers and new teams raring to go in Sao Paulo.

The opening round would be taking place at the Sao Paulo street circuit, and will be the only round to take place in 2024 with the rest of the rounds to take place in 2025.

40 minutes would be the length of the opening practice session with the drivers and teams raring to go. The green light would come on at the end of the pit lane and the session would be underway.

Nick Cassidy, who came so close to glory last year was the first one out on track. There would not be long of the session at all until a full-course yellow would be brought out by the race director. A full-course yellow usually put out in FP1 as a test for drivers and the FIA to see how well they manage it.

There would be many drivers looking to set fast laps early on with the Lola Cars driver Lucas Di Grassi having the top time within the first 10 minutes, ahead of Envision Racing's Robin Frijns.

Many drivers would also be pushing the limits with many including Pascal Wehrlein, running off at turn 1 and carrying too much speed into the breaking zone and bailing out of the turn in case they collide with the barriers.

One driver who would have a bump with the barriers would be the new Andretti driver Nico Mueller. Mueller would clip the wall with his rear left wheel and would have to pit for urgent repairs. This once again a clear indicator of just how much street circuits in motorsport can punish the slightest of errors.

Wehrlein would have a stint at the top as he would put a decent lap together and would show the Porsche to have decent speed. Both Porsche drivers are champions, which makes them the only lineup in the championship to have both of their drivers as champions.

Times would be improving as the track was evolving and Envision Racing were showing great speed just like Porsche. Robin Frijns would end up going fastest overall with just under 15 minutes to go with a 1:10.632, which would drop Wehrlein to second.

Drivers would be continuing to pushing the limits with many drivers including Nick Cassidy having to use the run off in turn 1.

Frijns would be beaten with just under seven minutes remaining as Jaguar's Mitch Evans would beat Frijns by 0.032 to set a 1:10.6 exactly. Wehrlein would still be third ahead of Porsche teammate Da Costa.

The track was evolving towards the end of the session and therefore there were improvements looming and the inevitability for drivers to jump up to the top did not go missing.

Jake Dennis would be the first for Andretti in a series of latter stage improvements. Taylor Barnard in his first practice session as a full time driver would jump ahead of Mitch Evans with a great attempt. Also improving would be the two Nissan drivers!

Norman Nato in his first practice session for Nissan would see him jump to the top of the time sheets but when would be narrowly beaten by British driver Oliver Rowland. 

​The last two minutes would go without flying laps as yellow flags would be out for Evans' Jaguar, which appeared to have a fault with the running of the car. When the clock ticked down to zero, Evans had come to a stop. Work for the Jaguar mechanics as to do as they will want to assess what went wrong during the session.

At the end of the session it was a perfect start to the season for Nissan as Oliver Rowland topped the time sheets ahead of his new teammate Norman Nato, who just missed out on top spot. Jake Dennis was third for Andretti.

Mahindra's Edoardo Mortara put in a fantastic final lap to finish fourth with NEOM McLaren's Taylor Barnard completing the top five. Evans would end up sixth despite the late mechanical issue ahead of Envision Racing's Robin Frijns in seventh. The two Porsche drivers, Pascal Wehrlein and Antonio Felix Da Costa were eighth and ninth respectively. 

Nick Cassidy completed the top 10.

After a session of great importance and with it being the first session of the racing Formula E calendar for the 202/25 season. Action will continue on Saturday, where the very first E-Prix of the season is set to get underway.

2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship: Round 1 - Sao Paulo

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

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal