Pascal Wehrlein came out on top over the weekend at rounds two and three of the Formula E World Championship in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, winning both races and taking the lead in the title fight.

Wehrlein only qualified ninth on the grid. Not one to go down without a fight, however, the German driver quickly began fighting for position come race time, his Porsche cutting through the field.

By lap 14, Wehrlein had climbed to fourth, and when polesitter Sébastien Buemi went to pick up his attack mode a few laps later, the Porsche driver breezed past to settle into second place behind Jaguar’s Sam Bird.

Wehrlein was hot on Bird’s tail, and while the British driver fended him off for a number of laps, the German finally made the move stick on lap 30, diving up the inside to take first position. Bird came home third, losing a place to Mexico winner Jake Dennis who made the second step of the podium.

Mitch Evans, Jaguar TCS Racing, Jaguar I-TYPE 6, leads Jake Hughes, NEOM McLaren Formula E Team, e-4ORCE 04, and Rene Rast, NEOM McLaren Formula E Team, e-4ORCE 04 during the ABB FIA Formula E Championship – 2023 Core Diriyah E-Prix Round 3 on 28 January, 2022 in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo: Handout/Jaguar Racing via Getty Images)

The next day, Wehrlein was again on top form come the start of the third race, though his improved qualifying result made things easier as he lined up fifth this time around.

With the previous night’s podium no doubt fresh in his mind, Wehrlein made quick work of moving up to fourth in the opening lap. From lap 13, the Porsche driver swiftly dispatched the McLaren of Jake Hughes and the Jaguar of Mitch Evans to put himself in second place, now staring down the papaya car of Hughes’ teammate René Rast.

On lap 17, Rast went through the attack mode section, allowing Wehrlein to move into first and charge ahead for the rest of the race with Dennis in second.

“This weekend has been incredible, a double victory. Our race pace was incredible again and today we had the perfect strategy… This weekend is one I will never forget,” Wehrlein said.

Wehrlein’s domination of the Diriyah double-header has put him on top of the championship standings heading into round four in India next week, displacing Dennis with 68 title points to the Briton’s 62.

But just as Wehrlein was ahead all weekend, Dennis was all over the back of him in both races, and is no doubt looking to retake the championship fight next time out on the streets of Hyderabad.

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“You know you’re having a really good season when you’re a little bit disappointed with P2,” Dennis said after the race.

“We just didn’t have a great start, (Wehrlein) had a good one and we had a bad one… He can have this one, but we are going to come out swinging in India and try and take the Championship lead off him.

“Jaguar is really fast as well… We need to collect the points while we can and try to build the biggest lead we can because they are definitely going to start to close the gap.”

Papaya in the rearview mirror

While Wehrlein naturally was the favourite over the weekend, newcomers McLaren are quickly proving themselves as a team to watch this season. The outfit acquired the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team last year, and while the previous owners were title-winners, the clean slate of the Gen3 era combined with new ownership and a fresh driver pairing meant anything could happen.

But McLaren’s introduction to the electric championship has so far been an impressive one, and the pairing of veteran Rast with rookie Hughes has caught deserving attention. After Hughes’ impressive debut in Mexico, where he scored points in fifth place, he was the fastest in round three’s qualifying, earning him his — and McLaren’s — first pole position in the series. In round two, he finished the race in a respectable eighth place, and in round two he converted his pole position to a career-equalling fifth place once again.

Though Rast had a more difficult beginning to the season in Mexico, finishing in eighteenth place for the season-opener, the tables turned for the German in Diriyah, where he finished fifth in round two. The next evening, Rast pulled off a stunning drive again, securing McLaren’s first Formula E with third place.

“I am over the moon… The team deserved it as they put so much hard work into this and we were executing so well the whole weekend, especially from where I came from in Mexico… to now being on the podium… It feels like a victory.” Rast said.

Formula E will go racing again on 11 February in Hyderabad, India, where Mahindra Racing will surely look to perform well at their home race. Just two weeks later, Formula E will descend on the Mother City for the Cape Town e-Prix.

“It’s clear that in the first three races, we were very successful and we want to continue with that, so there’s a lot of work ahead, but with the positive results we had in the last couple of races and I’m obviously really looking forward to (Hyderabad and Cape Town) and hopefully we can show similar performances,” Wehrlein told Daily Maverick. DM