FORMULA E
Copyright © Aemilia Cumberland - Jean Eric Vergne for DS Penske at the London E-Prix
 Credit: Simon Galloway Reigning Formula E champion Pascal Wehrlein makes it back to back pole positions in the championship, as on Saturday he took pole position for the Mexico City E-Prix. It is the second successive season that Wehrlein has taken pole position for the Mexico City E-Prix. Last year, he took victory on route to the championship crown. Could he do the same in the 2024/25 campaign? That would be a matter for the day's later E-Prix to decide. Wehrlein took pole in the 1v1 knockout duels final by just over a tenth of a second after he beat his Porsche teammate Antonio Felix Da Costa in the final. Both progressed to the final after beating Nissan's Oliver Rowland and DS Penske's Jean-Eric Vergne respectively. Championship leader Mitch Evans was eliminated in the quarter finals after progressing through the group stages. He was beaten by Oliver Rowland. How qualifying for the 2024/25 Mexico City E-Prix unfoldedAction would return to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit for Formula E on E-Prix race day Saturday in Mexico City, for round 2 of the 2024/25 championship with qualifying set to take centre stage. The duels qualifying which is well associated with the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship for its uniqueness. The 22-driver grid would be split into two groups of 11 and those drivers fight it out in their respective groups for the top four spots. The top four drivers of each group would individually match up to form four quarter finals in a knockout-type format. The fastest driver in each driver will progress to the two semi finals, where the top of each semi final would progress to the final. The final will be between two drivers, with the fastest drivers taking pole position. Practice had been very busy earlier on in the weekend with Antonio Felix Da Costa topping Friday's free practice 1 with Jake Hughes topping the day's earlier free practice 2. Group AThe qualifying in Mexico City would begin with Group A and the first 11 drivers would head out onto the circuit. The drivers participating in Group A would be:
The green light would be on at the end of the pit lane and the session would be underway to signify the start of qualifying in Mexico City with all 11 drivers heading out immediately to get to grips with a developing circuit, as it was damp for the day's earlier free practice 2. As the drivers began to set their lap times the track was continuing to develop and in the first half of the session, Mahindra's Edorardo Mortara was fastest with Zane Maloney and Lucas Di Grassi sitting themselves in the top four along with Taylor Barnard as Group A reached the halfway point of the session. The times were beginning to tumble rapidly as the session entered the final four minutes as Mitch Evans would go to the top of the time sheet. The Jaguar racer was having a much nicer qualifying than his qualifying in Sao Paulo where he stopped on track with a mechanical problem. Nissan's Oliver Rowland would be the next to go fastest with a 1:15.702. He would soon be dislodged by Pascal Wehrlein and Nico Mueller as it would be the Porsche of Wehrlein who would be fastest by half a second to Mueller in second place. The track was progressively ramping up and soon enough the chequered flag would be out to signal the end of the session and rivers who were on flying laps could improve, could there be some shocks inbound? At the end of the session it would be the reigning champion Wehrlein who took top spot with a 1:14.610. It would be Rowland, Sebastian Buemi and Evans who progressed through to the duels with attention turning to Group B. Buemi though would be excluded in the aftermath of Group B for a technical infraction and would therefore be out of the duels. This would promote Edoardo Mortara through in fourth spot instead. Group BAfter a short reset for the circuit, the attention of Formula E qualifying would turn to the other 11 drivers in Group B. The 11 drivers participating in the session would be:
The green light would be on at the end of the pit lane and the session would be underway with all 11 cars entering the circuit and keen to get on with the action and book their places in the duels if possible. The session would reach the halfway point and many drivers would be finding time as the track was once again improving as Robin Frijns led the way for Envision ahead of Sam Bird, Nyck De Vries and Dan Ticktum who would be provisionally the four through. Times were improving as both DS Penske drivers, Jean-Eric Vergne and Maximilian Gunther, would leap themselves up into the top four with Frijns and Bird the top two and separated by just 12 thousandths of a secon with Frijns top with a 1:14.136. Nick Cassidy of Jaguar was evidence that the track was certainly improving as he would go quickest by over six tenths to Robin Frijns. Antonio Felix Da Costa, Vergne and De Vries would provisionally make up the top four as Group B entered the final minute before the chequered flag. The chequered flag would be out as drivers would be trying to find clear gaps to lay down their lap times for the final time in Group B at the very end of the session. There would be a seemingly mechanical problem for Nick Cassidy as he bailed out of his final run. Thankfully for Cassidy, it would be enough for him to get through to the duels as Maximilian Gunther put a great lap together to end Group B top of the pile. It was a narrow margin of seven hundredths to Jake Dennis in second. Cassidy and Da Costa would join them in the duels. Nick Cassidy would be excluded too as he also had his lap time deleted and therefore he would be out of qualifying. Jean-Eric Vergne would be through to the duels instead. 1v1 knockout duels: Mexico City E-PrixTime for the 1v1 knockout duels which would take us to the conclusion of qualifying where drivers would battle it out over a single lap to progress through each phase to take pole position for the 2024/25 Mexico City E-Prix. First up would be the four quarter finals, with the eight drivers matched up against one another. The winners of each four would progress through to the semi finals. The four quarter finals would be:
The first quarter final would get underway with the Jaguar of championship leader Mitch Evans heading out first in front of Oliver Rowland. Soon enough, the laps would begin and although Evans would set the lap first. Evans would cross the line first but would not progress as Rowland would put a beauty of a lap together and would progress by three tenths of a second meaning the championship leader was out. The second quarter final would be between Edoardo Mortara and Pascal Wehrlein. The winner of this would face Oliver Rowland in the first semi final. It would be a one-sided affair following a mistake early on from Mortara. Wehrlein would progress by just under nine tenths of a second and it would be a conclusive round with Mortara out of qualifying. Wehrlein would join Rowland in the semi final. The third quarter final would see the other Porsche of Antonio Felix Da Costa and the Andretti of Jake Dennis. On paper it would be a quarter final that would seem pretty evenly matched but time lost from Dennis would make it a comfortable margin of roughly half a second for Da Costa. Second in the standings Da Costa would progress through to the semi finals and it would be one of the DS Penske drivers to join him. Would it be Jean-Eric Vergne or Maximilian Gunther to join him? An all-team battle at DS Penske would go the way of Vergne with a 1:11.190 and the French multiple Formula E champion would progress. Vergne beat Gunther by three tenths of a second to match up against Da Costa in the quarter final. After a short pause, attention would turn to the semi finals, with just four drivers in the hunt for pole position, for the Mexico City E-Prix. The semi-final match ups would be as follows:
First up in the semi finals would be Pascal Wehrlein against Oliver Rowland. Both drivers performed exceptionally in the first quarter finals and they would be hoping to book their place in the final. Wehrlein would be the first to complete his lap as the broadcast showed the laps at the same time and he crossed the line to set a better lap time than the Nissan of Rowland to book his Porsche a place in the final. Wehrlein would have to wait to find out who would join him in the final. Would it be his teammate Antonio Felix Da Costa or the DS Penske of Jean-Eric Vergne. At the end of the lap times it would be an all-Porsche final as the Portuguese driver Da Costa would beat Vergne by almost two tenths after it seemed a close fight throughout the 19 cornered lap at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. It would be down to the final with the two Porsche drivers, Pascal Wehrlein and Antonio Felix Da Costa battling it out for pole position but would it be Wehrlein or Da Costa to take the three world championship points? A close fight at the end of the lap would see a narrow victory for Pascal Wehrlein who beat teammate Da Costa by just over a tenth. This would mean a second pole position in successive years in Mexico City! It's also back to back pole positions for Wehrlein following on from his one in Sao Paulo back in December. He would take pole position, where he won from in the 2023/24 season. 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship: Round 2 - Mexico City E-Prix qualifying result
 Brandon Whiteside
Writer & X Contributor - F1 Journal
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