Round 8 of the FIA Formula E championship arrives in Puebla, Mexico! The title battle is close between the top 6 drivers, and racing on this completely new track will surely bring excitement to the fight. 

Practice 1 had a damp track due to rain the previous night, so the session saw faster times and unpredictability. After testing a VSC at the beginning of the session, a red flag came out because Alex Sims’ car cut out at turn 11. Before the practice was stopped, it looked like Buemi, Dennis and Rowland were the fastest cars out there. With 21 minutes to go, the session restarted. Both Sette Camara and Gunther ran into the wall but were luckily able to stay out. The session ended with a yellow flag due to Sette Camara going into the run-off area. The top three ended up being Rowland, Wehrlein, and Da Costa during a practice full of action. Practice 2 was only 30 minutes, meaning there was limited time for the drivers to get comfortable with the new track this weekend. There were a few yellow flags during the session when the BMWs and a DS Techeetah went into the run-off, but everyone was able to stay out. The top 3 at the end of the session were Rowland once again, Da Costa, and Vergne. 

Qualifying, like always, was split into four groups. Group 1 saw Do Costa go fastest, with Vandoorne struggling and ending up slowest. The entirety of group 2 was quicker than group 1, and Wehrlein came out fastest in this competitive group. Gunther came out on top in group 3, and Sette Camara topped group 4. The super pole shootout saw Wehrlein achieve pole with the rest of the order being Rowland, Dennis, Vergne, Gunther, and Mortara.

The whole race was chaotic from start to finish. Rowland had to retire from the race after losing power and discovering a software issue. The first safety car came out after Cassidy crashed into the wall. Sette Camara and Eriksson both changed parts before the race and received the first of many penalties handed out during the race. Buemi got a 10-second stop-go penalty because of an incident he was involved in. Lynn Frijns and Vandoorne used their attack mode reasonably early in the race as they had to make up a good number of positions to make it into the points. After causing a collision, De Vries and Frijns were investigated, but ultimately only Frijns received a 10-second penalty, severely hurting his race. Vergne and Bird both went into the wall in the second half of the race. Bird was pushed by Lynn, but the Mahindra driver didn’t receive a penalty. This meant that the safety car came out with 13 minutes to go. The true drama of the day came when the race leader Wehrlein, Rowland, Lotterer, and Buemi all were under investigation for a technical infringement as they all failed to declare their tyres. Wehrlein had his win taken away from him after all four drivers under investigation got disqualified. Because of the DSQs, Di Rassi won the race, with Rast and Mortara finishing out the podium. 

Lucas di Grassi via Twitter

This was a great first race on this track, and it would definitely be great to see them return to the streets of Puebla. Mercedes EQ definitely was a winner in Race 8. After not having a great qualifying session, they were able to get both drivers in the points, with De Vries in 9th and Vandoorne in 7th. Audi also had a great race getting their first 1-2 of the season. Because of their disqualifications Nissan and Porsche both missed out on crucial points, but there is still one more race in Mexico to make up for it.