Mitch Evans won the ABB Formula E championship’s Monaco E-Prix, leading home Jaguar TCS Racing teammate Nick Cassidy, after a chaotic race on the streets of Monte Carlo.
Both Jaguars started on the second row of the grid and wasted no time moving forward, pressuring second-placed starter Stoffel Vandoorne into Sainte Devote on the first lap. The DS Penske man held firm, though, and the Jaguars had to wait to move into second and third.
Polesitter and race leader Pascal Wehrlein of TAG Heuer Porsche went for the Attack Mode power boost on lap three, opening the door for Evans to take the lead — a position he would not relinquish for the rest of the race. Cassidy followed him through, but was facing pressure from a charging Jean-Eric Vergne.
A lap later, the race got its first safety car, after Mahindra’s Edoardo Mortara slammed into the wall in the Swimming Pool section after an apparent brake failure. On the same lap, ERT driver Sergio Sette Camara forced Envision’s Sebastien Buemi up onto two wheels and then into the barrier at the Grand Hotel hairpin. Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa was also collected in the scuffle, while Sette Camara was slapped with a five-second penalty as a result.
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The race resumed on lap 9, with Evans taking his Attack Modes on laps 11 and 13. Such was Jaguar’s control at the front of the field, with Cassidy serving as a rear gunner to Evans, Evans was able to maintain the lead despite both times he took the slower, longer line.
Cassidy served his final Attack Mode pass-through on lap 17, and five laps later had it confirmed over the radio that the team was looking to maintain position — thus it was formation flying for the tow Jaguars out in front for the remainder of the race.
A brief second safety car didn’t deter them, either. The caution period came about after NEOM McLaren’s Jake Hughes forced ABT Cupra driver Nico Mueller into the wall at Rascasse on lap 25 of what was initially a 29-lap race, but extended to 31 as a result of the two safety car periods.
It was a first Monaco victory for Evans — who topped both practice sessions at the start of the day — and the factory Jaguar team, but second consecutive win in the Principality for it as a powertrain supplier following Cassidy’s win for former team Envision last season.
Stoffel Vandoorne took his first podium finish since his championship-winning season in 2021-22. He ended the race third, almost four seconds adrift of Evans, while Vergne maintained the two-by-two formation at the head of the field by finishing behind his teammate in fourth, the first safety car period destroying his challenge on Cassidy.
Wehrlein couldn’t recover from slipping down the field during his Attack Modes and wound up fifth, while Oliver Rowland put on another fine display for Nissan, clawing through from 15th on the grid to take sixth.
Da Costa recovered from the incident with Sette Camara and Buemi at the Grand Hotel hairpin to finish sixth, ahead of Nissan’s Sacha Fenestraz, Maserati MSG’s Maximilian Guenther, and Andretti’s Norman Nato who rounded out the top 10.
Taylor Barnard took 14th, behind Lucas di Grassi, Nyck de Vries and Dan Ticktum, on his debut for NEOM McLaren in place of the injured Sam Bird. He initially finished behind teammate Jake Hughes too but Hughes was handed a five-second penalty for his avoidable contact with Mueller. Mueller was subsequently one of two retirements along with Mortara.
Jake Dennis was the final runner to cross the line, in 20th, following a pit stop after sustaining front wing damage after being squeezed by Robin Frijns in the tunnel on lap 10. Frijns sustained front wing damage of his own on lap 17 after contact with da Costa. He finished 17th.
