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Jake Dennis started Season Nine of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in supreme fashion at the Mexico City E-Prix, after claiming one of the most dominant victories in the history of the championship. The British driver claimed the win by eight-seconds, as Pascal Wehrlein stormed through the top five to seal second on the podium. Pole-sitter Lucas Di Grassi had to settle for third, after spending the vast majority of the incident-packed race defending for his life.

Perfect Start For Lucas Di Grassi, Misery For Sam Bird

With Di Grassi starting on pole with Dennis alongside him, all twenty-two drivers stared at the lights, as they waited for the first race of Season Nine and Gen3 to get underway. As the lights went out at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, it was the pole-sitter who made the best launch off the line, as all the drivers fought relentlessly on the opening lap of the season. By the time the first lap had been completed a Safety Car was needed, after Robin Frijns came to a halt after going into the back of Norman Nato. Frijns weirdly went into the back of Nato all on his own on the opening lap, resulting in both the Dutchman and the Frenchman having to retire.

Apart from the collision at the back, the remaining drivers all kept it relatively clean on the first lap, with little change having occurred to the starting order. The Safety Car finally came back into the pits at the end of Lap Five, as Di Grassi led Dennis, Jake Hughes and the rest of the field across the start/finish line to restart the race. As soon as the race restarted, though, it was immediately neutralised with another Safety Car, after Sam Bird‘s disastrous weekend ended in woeful style. Bird pulled to the inside of Turn Two and instantly complained of a driveshaft failure, cementing his season opener as one to instantly forget. Onboards showed, though, that a system fault was clearly present as well.

The race once again restarted on Lap Ten, with Dennis and Hughes having kept much closer to Di Grassi at the second restart. The back of the field were weirdly well-off the pack as the race restarted, something that caused two distinct groups.

Jake Dennis Hits The Front

Nick Cassidy and Stoffel Vandoorne became the first two drivers to activate their Attack Mode, whilst at the front Dennis lunged on a sleeping Di Grassi at Turn Three, claiming the lead in the process thanks to the Brazilian making an earlier error at Turn Two. Agony was suddenly felt by NIO 333 Racing and Dan Ticktum, as the Brit served a drive-through penalty on Lap Thirteen for using too much power, dropping him from the top-eight, to last.

After winning the WRC2 season-finale in Rally Japan last season which became the first win for Gregoire Munster at the international level, the Luxembourg native has now signed up for a new factory-backed WRC2 outing as he joins the M-Sport Ford WRT crew for 2023 with start at Rallye Monte-Carlo next weekend.

It´s not only WRC2 the 24-year-old will do this season, the youngster who comes from the highly respected Munster rally family will also join the FIA Junior World Rally Championship which starts in Rally Sweden next month.

Munster made his first appearance in WRC with Monte-Carlo in 2019 and he has since then made two more appearances in the world-famous rally, with a best finish of fifth in class last season. Last year he also took third overall in the 2022 WRC2 Junior class.

He has run a privately entered Hyundai i20 N Rally2 fielded by his dad´s team BMA now for two seasons but now he will be swapping over to a Ford Fiesta Rally2 (and Ford Fiesta Rally3 in JWRC).

“We’re looking forward to going to Monte Carlo for the first time with a car prepared by M-Sport. We’ve done the rally a few times in the past so we have some experience there, but I don’t think it would be realistic to say we will aim straight for a big result. We will just try to get familiar with the car, be consistent throughout the weekend and see where we end up. We want to start our campaign on a good footing.” Munster said.

Alongside fielding two cars in the Rally1 class, the M-Sport Ford WRT will also begin their 2023 WRC2 assault at the FIA World Rally Championship season-opener in Rallye Monte-Carlo next weekend.

The Frenchman Adrien Fourmaux has been demoted down to the WRC2 team for the 2023 season after a poor season in the factory team last year but despite that his 2023 season got off with a positive start and the team is pleased to see him sticking around still.

Last weekend he won the Austrian Jänner Rally in a Ford Fiesta Rally2 car fielded by the team, on the same roads as the new Central European Rally will be using later this season and this result was a good confidence boost for the Frenchman.

Fourmaux has previously been running in the WRC2 class for the team in 2020 and the year before he rented a Ford Fiesta MKII R5 from the team, he took his maiden podium on the first outing in the series in 2019 Rallye Monte-Carlo and followed up with two more second-place finishes in Monte-Carlo in 2020 and 2021.

In the 2021 season, Fourmaux was promoted to do selected rallies in a Ford Fiesta WRC and claimed a career-best finish of fifth overall on his first attempt in Rally Croatia, followed by one more fifth-place finish in Safari Rally Kenya. Last year however it went downwards for him as he retired from 5 out of the 10 rallies he entered and restarted the rally on two others. He was forced to sit out from Greece, New Zealand, and Japan.

Formula E veteran Lucas Di Grassi will start the season-opening Mexico City E-Prix on pole position, after shocking the entire paddock in the first qualifying session of the third era of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. Jake Dennis had to settle for second after suffering substantial front-wing damage in his Quarter-Final, which cost him dearly in the final against Di Grassi. Rookie Jake Hughes claimed third on his Formula E debut, as several big-hitters missed out on even making it out of the Group Stage.

Group A

Kicking-off qualifying in Group A was Robin Frijns, André Lotterer, Friday’s fastest driver Jean-Éric Vergne, Sébastian Buemi, Sam Bird, Di Grassi, Maximilian Günther, René Rast, Sérgio Sette Câmara, Sacha Fenestraz and António Félix da Costa. It was Bird who led the first group out onto the circuit, as the sun beamed against the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. It was a miracle for Bird to even get out on the circuit, given that he missed the majority of Free Practice Two following a suspected MCU issue.

It was the Jaguar TCS Racing driver who hit the top early on; however, all the drivers set initial lap-times that were far from competitive. It was quickly evident that the drivers were going to build into the session, given how hard the new Hankook tyres are. Buemi suddenly set the first real competitive time, with the Swiss driver having hit the top after breaking into the 1:13s, as did Günther and Sette Câmara. As the first group session hit the halfway mark, the times began to tumble, as Lotterer and Di Grassi broke into the crucial top four, with only four drivers from each group moving on into the duels.

As the session entered its final minute, Sette Câmara saw an improved lap ruined by Vergne, who blatantly blocked the Brazilian driver. All eleven drivers pushed incredibly hard on their last lap as they fought for a spot in the duels, with Da Costa having been the first to end his last lap, enough for second momentarily. Di Grassi suddenly replaced Da Costa in second, before the Portuguese driver suddenly found himself outside the top four following a super lap from rookie Fenestraz and Buemi. Both Vergne and Sette Câmara remarkably failed to break into the top four, marking a disappointing session for the pair of them.

Into the duels: Lotterer, Buemi, Di Grassi and Fenestraz.

The Greek gentleman driver Jourdan Serderidis will not be entered in the main M-Sport Ford WRT factory team for Rallye Monte-Carlo, but he will become the first privateer entry in the 2023 FIA World Rally Championship season as he will be renting a Ford Puma Rally1 from the team.

Serderidis has made some appearances for the team throughout the years, he started in 2018 when he rented a Ford Fiesta WRC for Rallye Deutschland and Rally Australia, where he finished 18th and 10th respectively.

Last season he became the first privateer to use a Rally1-spec car when he rented a Puma for Safari Rally Kenya and at the same time he took his career-best finish of seventh overall, he made another two appearances throughout the season in Acropolis Rally Greece and RallyRACC Catalunya – Costa Daurad.

“Starting the WRC season with a Puma Rally1, with M-Sport at Monte-Carlo is first a privilege but also a major challenge. Considering the level of competition and the tricky snow and ice conditions,” Serderidis said.

“I will be more than happy to be in the top 20 of this fantastic rally. It’s not only the most beautiful event on the calendar but the most challenging as well. We had a good test in snowy conditions yesterday, so I believe we are ready for the fun!”

Lining up alongside the former world champion Ott Tänak in the M-Sport Ford WRT team will be the Frenchman Pierre-Louis Loubet, he will be going for the first full season in the FIA World Rally Championship this season and starting with Rallye Monte-Carlo next weekend

Loubet had previously been running for Hyundai in the factory supported the 2C Competition team in 2020 and 2021 where he had some issues with several retirements. But, when he switched the team over to M-Sport last season, he started to find some rhythm and took two fourth-place finishes out of seven rounds entered.

Last week he tested the Ford Puma Rally1 around the mountains nearby Gap, Monaco, and according to reports he was at one point faster than Tänak during the timed testing.

“I’m really happy with this week’s test; we tried a number of things, much more than usual, and the car felt great. The car is built for these kinds of roads and it’s very enjoyable to drive. I hope we will see similar conditions to the test on the rally next week, that would suit us really well.” Loubet said.

“I’m trying to stay calm, it’s a fantastic opportunity to have my first full season with M-Sport, but it’s also a big responsibility and I take that very seriously. So, I’m trying to keep a cool head, and we’ll see how we do throughout the season. We have all the tools we need to do well.”

After leaving Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT at the end of last year after three seasons with the Korean manufacturer, Ott Tänak has now returned to the British outfit M-Sport Ford WRT where his FIA World Rally Championship career started in the top category.

Tänak joined M-Sport in 2011 and had quite respected results in his first years for the team, in 2017 when the new regulations came he started to show some more promising results by taking his first overall win in the 2017 Rally Italia Sardegna, and he followed up with one more win later in Rallye Deutschland and ended the season with a third place overall in the standings.

After the 2017 season, he joined Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT for the 2018 season and stayed there for two seasons. He became the World Rally Champion in 2019 for Toyota and since that, he moved on to Hyundai in 2020.

Now he is back at M-Sport and next weekend he will pilot one of the two factory entered Ford Puma Rally1 he is looking to become one of the title contenders for this season if everything goes smoothly.

“Rallye Monte-Carlo is always a difficult one to expect something, but for sure it’s the trickiest rally of the season. It won’t be any easier this time as well to get into the rhythm right away, so we expect nothing less than another tricky weekend in the mountains.” Tänak said.

George Russell has warned the FIA that the increase in weight of Formula 1 cars is becoming more dangerous for the drivers, as he believes this safety issue needs to be tackled heading into the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship campaign.

Russell has stated that the increased weight of cars has become a safety risk for the drivers and this is largely down to the new set of regulations that came into the sport in 2022.

The minimum weight of last years cars was set at seven-hundred and ninety-eight kilograms which was an increase of forty-six kilograms from 2021. Pirelli’s new set of eighteen inch wheels, that were introduced has also contributed in the increased weight of the cars and has made it more challenging for the drivers to drive.

The British driver believes that the FIA need to make this issue a priority in order to improve drivers safety as he reflects on cars being much lighter in years gone by.

“The big one is the weight. The weight is extraordinary,” said Russell to Motorsport.com . At the moment, the low-speed performance is not great. We keep making these cars safer and safer, but obviously the heavier you make them when you have an impact it’s like crashing with a bus compared to a Smart car.

Pascal Wehrlein started Saturday at the Mexico City E-Prix in perfect fashion, after topping what was an incredibly cold Free Practice Two. Friday afternoon pace-setter Jean-Éric Vergne claimed second whilst Sérgio Sette Câmara rounded off the top three, as just 0.052s seperated the top-four drivers!

As Free Practice Two got underway at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, it was Maximilian Günther who hit the track first, as the sun began to rise in Mexico City. Track and air temperatures were particularly cool, with the first session of the day taking place at 07:30am local time. As the first lap-times were completed it was Sam Bird who set the initial fastest lap, as the drivers got to grips with the cooler temperatures. It was evident that the drivers were slowly building into the session, with the initial lap-times having been five-seconds slower than what was achieved Friday afternoon.

Drama quickly struck, though, as Bird pulled to the side of the stadium section after coming to a complete halt. The British driver complained of an MCU failure, with onboards having shown that he simply lost all drive. Remarkably, after being stationary for a couple of minutes, he got his I-TYPE 6 running again, before darting straight into the pits.

Whilst Bird was sat stationary, António Félix da Costa hit the top, before his TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team partner Wehrlein replaced him. As the first ten minutes past, the times continued to tumble and became more respectable as to what was seen on Friday, with Wehrlein’s time of a 1:14.427 being just over a second-off what Vergne achieved on Friday. Speaking of Vergne, the Frenchman jumped up to second behind Wehrlein, whilst rookie Jake Hughes and reigning World Champion Stoffel Vandoorne slotted into third and fourth.

As the session moved into its final twenty minutes, Sette Câmara jumped into the top three, further highlighting the solid work that has been done pre-season by NIO 333 Racing. The Brazilian was quickly out of the top three, though, as Hughes hit the top after breaking into the 1:13s. Hughes was closely followed by Jake Dennis, forming a momentary British one-two at the top of the timesheets. Just three-hundredths of a second split the two British drivers, whilst Sébastian Buemi moved to third.

Weeks after Michael Andretti announced plans to link up with General Motors to launch a new team in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the response from other teams is still yet to reach the welcoming heights that the Andretti brand had hoped.

After spending the 2022 season discussing plans to expand from the existing ten teams, Andretti revealed that it was planning on opening a Formula 1 operation. 

Fast forward to the present, and Andretti has confirmed plans to join Formula 1 with support from Cadillac and seems to have all his ducks in a row. FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem multiple times, has gone extremely public with his desire to expand the grid in the coming years and has spoken to the media, expressing disappointment over the reluctance to embrace the Andretti brand.

“It is surprising that there has been some adverse reaction to the Cadillac and Andretti news. The FIA has accepted the entries of smaller, successful organisations in recent years. We should be encouraging prospective F1 entries from global manufacturers like GM and thoroughbred racers like Andretti and others.

“Interest from teams in growth markets adds diversity and broadens F1’s appeal.”

Pierre Gasly has revealed he sought assurances from the Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo about the long term plans surrounding the BWT Alpine F1 Team before committing to a move to the team for the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.

The Frenchman has joined the Enstone-based team in place for the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team bound Fernando Alonso ahead of the 2023 season to join countryman Esteban Ocon.  It will mark Gasly’s first time racing in Formula 1 that he will not be in a Red Bull-backed team.

2023 will be Alpine’s third year in Formula 1 since the team was rebranded, and Gasly wanted to be sure what their plans and ambitions were for the future before he committed his own future to the team.

“I was also informed of the plans and projects for the next few years by Luca de Meo,” said Gasly to German publication Auto Motor und Sport. “I wanted to know how much Renault is behind this project.

“They will do everything to get to the top and being in an official team of a manufacturer gives a driver the guarantee of having the best possible material at the team’s disposal.”

Ahead of the season-opening race of the ninth season of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, Jaguar TCS Racing have confirmed their two reserve drivers for the start of Gen3, with both being former Formula E drivers.

The first of which is Swedish driver Joel Eriksson, who was originally a reserve driver for Dragon Racing in 2019, before making his full debut at the Season Seven Puebla E-Prix for Dragon/Penske Autosport. Eriksson went on to complete the rest of Season Seven with Dragon/Penske, before finding himself without a seat for Season Eight.

Looking ahead to his new role with Jaguar, the Swedish driver is “looking forward” to working with the British team and getting to truly understand the team’s Gen3 challenger the I-TYPE 6.

“I’m really looking forward to joining the Jaguar TCS Racing team as a reserve and test driver. I have tested the Jaguar I-TYPE 6 in the simulator and it’s amazing to see the difference between Gen2 and Gen3 – it’s a real step forwards in technology, speed and power. The team has seen great results over the last two seasons and I’m hoping to help Mitch, Sam and the engineers this season.” 

Also occupying the role is Tom Dillmann, who as well as being an ex-Formula E driver himself, has worked for Jaguar for the last two seasons. Dillmann is “thrilled” to be entering another season as Jaguar’s reserve driver and is “looking forward” to helping the team fight for the title.

Max Verstappen admits it was surprising to end the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season with such a substantial gap at the top of the standings as he clinched his second world title.

The Oracle Red Bull Racing driver took a record breaking fifteen victories across the twenty-two races and clinched the championship with a win in the wet Japanese Grand Prix, five races before the end of the season.

Red Bull were helped by unreliability as well as some questionable strategy calls from Scuderia Ferrari that enabled Verstappen to come back from an early forty-six-point deficit to Charles Leclerc in the standings to come through and clinch his second championship.

Verstappen ended the year one hundred and forty-six points clear of Leclerc, and an additional three more clear of team-mate Sergio Pérez in third, but the Dutchman says the gap does not really reflect the reality of the season as there were not many times when Red Bull dominated a race weekend.

“On the one hand, yes,” Verstappen is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com when asked if he would have liked Ferrari to remain involved in the title battle for longer.

Lewis Hamilton hopes that both the McLaren F1 Team and BWT Alpine F1 Team can join the battle at the front of the field during the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver expects his team to be involved at the front as well as Scuderia Ferrari and last year’s dominant Constructors’ Champions Oracle Red Bull Racing, but he would also like to see the teams that finished fourth and fifth to make the step up.

Coming off the back of his worst season in Formula 1 that saw him fail to win a race for the first time in his career, Hamilton believes it would be good for the sport if there were more teams in with a chance of winning races, as only three teams did take victories during the 2022 season.

And it is the teams based at Woking and Enstone that the seven-time World Champion sees most likely at making the jump forward in performance.

“I’d like to think that we’re going to be the ones that are competing with them and being able to beat them [Red Bull] again, I do believe that for sure,” said Hamilton to Formula1.com.

George Russell believes the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team can be contenders for the World Championship in 2023 and take the fight to Oracle Red Bull Racing at the front of the field.

Mercedes had taken eight consecutive Constructors’ Championship titles between 2014 and 2021 only to slip to third in 2022 as they struggled with the new aerodynamic regulations, with Russell providing the team their own victory in the São Paulo Grand Prix.

Russell says Mercedes know where they need to focus on when it comes to the development of the 2023 W14 and he believes they will hit the targets they’re aiming for.

“I think when you look at the development we have brought this year, and the rate at which we’ve closed the gap, there’s nothing telling us we can’t achieve this,” said Russell to Motorsport.com.

“We’ve been pretty clear now for about two months which targets we have to hit in terms of development. And I am pretty confident if we do achieve that, we will have a car that we can compete with Red Bull.”