The most fraught finish yet of the 2023 Formula E season – which featured polesitter Jake Hughes running dry of energy and baulking Mitch Evans, allowing Sebastien Buemi to snatch a position at the final corner – was prompted by McLaren driver Hughes overconsuming energy while defending position in the closing laps.
The trio were running fifth, sixth and seventh but as Hughes entered the final corner he started to lose power, with a marauding Evans ready to pounce.
But the Jaguar driver got boxed in behind the McLaren and an opportunistic Buemi lunged to the right in his Envision-run Jaguar and snatched sixth from Evans.
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Buemi almost grabbed fifth too, as Hughes trickled over the line, and was just 0.078 seconds in arrears for the position. Evans was a mere 0.141s further back as the trio crossed the line almost as one.
Speaking to The Race, McLaren’s rookie Hughes said that he âoverconsumed [energy] a little bit, sort of four or five laps to goâ and that it put him âon the back foot into the last two lapsâ.
He then further overconsumed âto stay ahead into the last chicaneâ and was forced to lift when âthe car told me into the last corner that I had no power on the exitâ.
Hughes confirmed that he felt a hit from Evans, who had little option at that stage other than to hit the back of the McLaren-Nissan.
âIâve got damage on the rear left but it was across the line so it doesnât matter,â said Hughes.
âIn the end I got it across the line in the position I was in so I did what it took.
âThere is a small pocket of the race though I feel like I can improve a little bit on improving energy but thatâs inevitable I think.â
McLaren team principal Ian James said Hughes had done what had been asked of him to keep hold of the position.
âHe was told the line he needed to take and he executed that very well and defended the position,â said James.
Evans, who led the opening phase of the race after getting the drop on Hughes into Turn 1 at the start, said he âwasnât expectingâ Hughes to run out of energy almost on the finishing line.
âJake was really struggling at the end on energy, the targets were already super high at the end because of the safety car,â said Evans. âOtherwise, I would have passed him easily.
“So, I lost two positions because of that. It just sums up my start to the season honestly. Iâm always in the wrong place at the wrong time, itâs just super frustrating right now.â
Evansâs annoyance was doubled by some confusion as to where the efficiency of his package went from Friday to Saturday.
âAll the efficiency that we had yesterday and even in free practice [three on Saturday morning] went out the window. I donât know what has changed, weâre analysing it, but I couldnât hit targets, normally Iâm underconsuming. So yeah, we need to analyse it,â he added.
âI was digging myself a hole by overconsuming, I was trying my best but couldnât work around it.â
The opportunistic Buemi viewed the final few metres of drama via the memory of what he had seen in Fridayâs race – when his team-mate Nick Cassidy almost jumped Rene Rast at the line for fifth place – and used this to influenced his line into the final corner.
âI watched yesterdayâs race, and Nick nearly got Rast on the line, and I saw that Hughes had no more energy, he was really dry,â Buemi told The Race.
âSo, I thought, it may happen again and I even said on the radio, âlet Mitch know that it might happenâ and it happened.
âItâs a shame because he [Evans] stayed flat-out and he pushed him [Hughes], otherwise I would have got both of them.
âBut Mitch stayed flat to push him, if he would not have done it he could not pass him anyway, but I would have passed both of them.â
Buemi declared that his sixth place was more satisfying than the fourth he scored from pole position on Friday evening because âtoday I had a good car but I did not drive well and yesterday I didnât have such a good car but I drove quite wellâ.
The Envision Racing driver lost out at the start when he got blocked off by Rene Rastâs McLaren and then pinched by a defensive Pascal Wehrlein at the left hander of the first chicane.
His race was again compromised by losing time behind Edoardo Mortaraâs Maserati and also spending unnecessary energy on defending from Jake Dennisâ rapid Andretti Porsche.
âInstead of just saving the energy I was kind of defending, but then I did a few changes on the steering wheel and found a lot of pace at the end,â added Buemi.