FORMULA E
Copyright © Aemilia Cumberland - Jean Eric Vergne for DS Penske at the London E-Prix
 Credit: Alastair Staley History made in Jeddah on Saturday, as NEOM McLaren driver Taylor Barnard is to become the youngest pole sitter in Formula E history as he took pole position for the round four Jeddah E-Prix. In a dominant and super impressive performance, Barnard took pole position for the first time in his Formula E career, after beating one of his previous mentors Oliver Rowland, in the duels final by four tenths of a second. It was an all-British final after both each beat a Maserati driver in the semi finals to reach the final. Barnard beat Jake Hughes while Rowland beat Stoffel Vandoorne. Vandoorne was later disqualified from qualifying for not having his fire extinguisher not being armed throughout the session. Rowland is the championship leader and will have an opportunity to extend it from the front row of the grid in the round four E-Prix in the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. How the qualifying for the Jeddah E-Prix unfolded (Round 4)For the second time in as many days it was time for qualifying in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship taking place in Jeddah, on the Saudi Arabian Corniche Coast. This would also be the first double-round weekend of the season. Following round three on Friday, Maximilian Gunther converted pole position in the most dramatic of circumstances to take victory for the first time with DS Penske. He had also topped the free practice three session, earlier in the day, starting off round four in perfect fashion. As is common with the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, the qualifying format is knockout based, with group stages and 1v1 duels determining the grid for the E-Prix later in the same day. The grid of 22 is split into two groups of 11 with the top four progressing into the quarter finals. These eight drivers would be matched against another individual in a one-lap 1v1 duel in an attempt to make it through to the semi-finals and then the final itself. The winner of the final would take the Julius Bear Pole Position trophy and would start round four of the 2024/25 campaign. The two groups of 11, Group A and Group B would be as follows: Group A
Group B
Group AThe qualifying session would begin with Group A and the first 11 drivers would head out to qualify for a space in the top four over the 12 minute session. Cars would start immediately piling out of the pit lane and onto the Jeddah Corniche Circuit once the green light came on at the end of the pit lane to signal that the session is underway. Soon enough the first representative lap times would begin to be set with Sam Bird of NEOM McLaren laying down the benchmark lap time for McLaren with Maximilian Gunther, Stoffel Vandoorne and Zane Maloney having the top four spots provisionally. As the session reached the halfway pint of the 12 minutes, Oliver Rowland of Nissan had elevated himself into the top four to knock Maloney out of the spot. This would be until the Jaguar of Nick Cassidy who would put himself second quickest overall. The track was continuously ramping up with Maloney improving up to second as the boy from Barbados was having a strong qualifying for Lola Yamaha ABT. This would become third as Gunther would leap to the top of the time sheets and becoming the first driver to beat Sam Bird. Major improvements would soon be laid down with four minutes remaining in the Group A qualifying group as Stoffel Vandoorne would go provisionally quickest with a 1:17.020, in a great effort by the Belgian driver. Gunther would drop to second as Rowland improved to third. Vandoorne, Gunther and Rowland would be separated by less than two tenths as Mitch Evans of Jaguar improved to a provisional fourth place. His time was good enough to be 12 thousandths of a second better than Evans. The session would enter the final two minutes with drivers needing to find improvements and quickly as the 11 battled for the top four places. Reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein would elevate himself to fourth. Shortly, the chequered flag would be out and that would signal the end to the Group A qualifying for round four of the 2024/25 season. Only drivers on their current laps could complete them. Vandoorne's strong time of a 1:17.020 would end the session quickest overall and would progress through to the duels stage. Rowland, Gunther and Bird would join him in progressing through to the quarter final stage. Big shocks included Pascal Wehrlein, Jake Dennis, and both Jaguar cars in Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy all being eliminated. Group BFollowing a dramatic finale in Group A, there would be Group B to follow, with the top four from this group joining Stoffel Vandoorne, Max Gunther, Sam Bird and Oliver Rowland in the 1v1 duels. The green light would come on at the end of the pit lane and the session would be underway around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Laps would soon end up being set by drivers in a bid to reach the quarter final stages. A strong start to the session for the NEOM McLaren car of podium finisher on Friday Taylor Barnard. He would soon be beaten as time was being found by drivers. Antonio Felix Da Costa would goto the top of the times with a 1:17.210 ahead of Barnard. The two Mahindra drivers, Edoardo Mortara and Nyck De Vries would also leap above the young Brit. This would be until a fantastic effort from Barnard would see him go faster than Da Costa with a 1:16.922. A lot of time was being found by many drivers as the track was continuing to ramp up. Jake Hughes would make it a 1-2 for Great Britain as he put his Maserati in second place. Soon enough the time would count down to the chequered flag with drivers on flying laps only being able to improve as Barnard would improve and stay at the top of the times and would safely progress through to the knockout duels. Hughes, Mortara and Da Costa would join Barnard in progressing through to the duels with Nyck De Vries and Norman Nato narrowly missing out on progressing but they would be eliminated. Knockout 1v1 duelsAfter an entertaining group stage phase it would be time for the 1v1 knockout duels where all eight drivers would make up the quarter final battles. These drivers would battle against another driver in a one-lap shootout. Whoever goes faster progresses to the semi final and the winner of the two semi finals will battle it out for pole position. To begin the knockout duels format would be the quarter final 1v1 battles. The quarter finals would be matched up as follows:
The first quarter final would be the top two from the round three E-Prix going head to head for the first space in the 1v1 duels semi final. It would be Gunther vs Rowland. DS Penske vs Nissan. Gunther would head out first, as opposed to yesterday's quarter final where he went out second. Rowland would instead be the driver heading out second. Therefore, Gunther would complete his lap time first. Gunther would lay down the benchmark lap of a 1:15.402, but Rowland's lap time would be too strong for him. The British driver would make no mistake in progressing through to the semi final stages. Rowland would wait to see who would progress out of Sam Bird and Stoffel Vandoorne to know who he would face in the first semi final. Bird would lay down his lap time first and would set a 1:15.418 but it would not be enough to book his place in the semi finals of the knockout duels. A great effort from both drivers but the 2022 Formula E Champion would progress to face Oiver Rowland in the semi finals. For the first place in the second semi final would be the third quarter final between Mahindra's Edoardo Mortara and the Maserati of British talent Jake Hughes. Maserati would be hoping Hughes could join his teammate Vandoorne in the semi-final stages. Mortara would lay down the lap time first and therefore all eyes would be on Hughes when Mortara laid down the benchmark of a 1:15.392. In the tightest of margins Hughes would beat it to make it both Maserati cars in the duels semi final two. Hughes would be waiting to see who he would face in the second semi final, from the fourth and final quarter final, which would be contested between Antonio Felix Da Costa of Porsche and Taylor Barnard of NEOM McLaren. Da Costa would be the driver to complete his lap time and therefore would lay down the benchmark time for Barnard to beat. The lap time to beat for Barnard would be a 1:15.067 and the British McLaren driver would achieve a semi final place! A fantastic effort for Barnard would see himself progress through to the semi final in a battle between the Brits as he would be taking on the Maserati of Jake Hughes for a place int he final showdown for pole position. A 1:14.840 for Barnard! There would then be four remaining in the knockout duels and they would take part in a semi-final each, with the winner of each semi-final progressing to the final one-lap showdown for pole position. The semi final match-ups would be as follows:
First up in the semi finals would be Vandoorne vs Rowland. Both experienced drivers but only one could make it through to the final fight for pole position. Similar to his quarter final, Rowland would be the driver to go out second with Vandoorne heading out first. In a closely fought battle for a spot in the final, it would be the Nissan of Rowland that would progress by almost two tenths of a second and therefore it would be an all-British final with one of Jake Hughes or Taylor Barnard joining Rowland. Following qualifying, semi-finalist Vandoorne would be disqualified from the session, in the post-session investigation by Race Control. This would be due to his fire extinguisher not being armed during his qualifying session. This would lead to him starting 22nd and back of the grid for the day's later E-Prix. It would then be time for the semi-final between Hughes and Barnard and the NEOM McLaren of Barnard was absolutely flying in this 1v1 duel. Hughes would lay down the benchmark time to beat which was a 1:15.460. Barnard would comfortably beat him by over four tenths of a second and would join Rowland in the final. This would be the first ever duels final too for Taylor Barnard. Could he become the youngest ever pole sitter in Formula E history? Unlike the quarter final and semi final, Rowland would be the driver to set his lap time first as he was the one to exit the pit lane first and he would be left to create enough of a gap to allow Barnard to have enough clean air to complete his fairly. Rowland would lay down the benchmark lap for 1:15.243. Would Barnard beat it? You bet he would, in a dominant lap from the McLaren driver! Barnard would not only take his maiden Formula E pole position but he would also become the youngest in the championship's history. Barnard would comfortably beat Rowland and it would be an all-British front row and it would be a chance for Barnard to go one further and become the youngest ever race winner in Formula E history. He would have the chance to do it from the front of the field in the day's later E-Prix for round four of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship under the night skies at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit - in the first double-round of the season. 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship: Round 4 - Jeddah E-Prix qualifying result
 Brandon Whiteside
Writer & X Contributor - F1 Journal
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
May 2025
Categories |
RSS Feed