Since the start of season 9 of the Formula E world championship, the leaders have always been more or less the same. Nevertheless, as a sign that nothing can be taken for granted, teams like Porsche, with one of the biggest budgets in the field, have oscillated between success and absence. It was also clear that manufacturers with a customer team benefited from data from four cars instead of two, and that corrective measures in the event of poor performance took less time to arrive.
In this respect, the duos of Porsche and Avalanche Andretti, as well as Jaguar and Envision Racing, worked rather well. While Jake Dennis (Avalanche Andretti) won the first race of the season in Mexico, it was Pascal Wehrlein who helped Porsche to two victories in Saudi Arabia, Dennis coming second on both occasions. But the Jaguars of Sam Bird and Mitch Evans were never far behind.
DS Penske plays the spoilsport
However, at the third race of the season, in Hyderabad, Vergne's victory in his DS Penske put an end to the domination by the German and British manufacturers. The Frenchman was the first to demonstrate the potential of the DS E-TENSE FE23 on a circuit where nobody had driven before, ahead of Nick Cassidy's Envision Racing and the Porsche of Antonio Felix Da Costa, his former team-mate at DS Automobiles.
In Cape Town, although Vergne didn't win, he did claim a podium finish and the race's fastest lap point. His team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne won his first pole position with DS Penske in Brazil, but was penalised by the high aerodynamic drag of his Gen3, which demanded a lot of energy from the leader.
Nevertheless, on the three entirely new circuits used by Formula E this season, it was the Franco-American DS Penske team that scored the most points, ahead of its rivals powered by Jaguar or Porsche, a total of eight cars. Both races in Berlin ended in podium finishes for Vergne, and the French driver and his team-mate often started from the back of the grid following a small mistake or penalty.
However, as a sign that the DS Performance single-seater is up to the task, both drivers often finished in the points, regardless of their starting position. In Rome, Vergne’s fifth place in the first race (after starting 16th) and Vandoorne's eighth place (after starting 18th on the grid) enabled DS Penske to remain in the top five at the end of the season.
The final round of the Formula E world championship will take place on 29 and 30 July in London on a special circuit, partially indoor.
