Oliver Rowland used a late Attack Mode power boost to perfection to win the first race of ABB Formula E Championship’s Monaco E-Prix weekend with a considerable buffer.
Rowland started second on the grid but kept polesitter Taylor Barnard honest in the early stages of the race, which was extended from 29 to 30 laps after two full course yellow flag periods. The pair’s duel reached boiling point on lap 11 when Rowland attempted to get by at the Swimming Pool, with Barnard taking to the run-off and maintaining the lead. A similar occurrence happened a lap later, this time at the Nouvelle Chicane, with Rowland getting by despite Barnard again cutting through the run-off.
Barnard again moved to the fore when Rowland went for his first Attack Mode activation on lap 15 – doing it immediately on a restart from the second FCY after Mitch Evans stopped on the run down to Portier, and he fell further back with the Pit Boost cycle started with he, along with Nyck de Vries and Pascal Wehrlein, who’d got into the other two podium places, among the last to pit.
A good save from Barnard, as he gets going again
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— Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) May 3, 2025
Having the additional energy later in the race, along with one remaining four-minute use of attack mode proved pivotal for Rowland.
De Vries, with the help of his final Attack Mode, got by Rowland on lap 23, having passed Nick Cassidy who’d pitted and used his power boost early and used considerably more energy than others around him to claw his way to the front from his 10 row starting position. Rowland still had his final use of additional energy in his pocket and went for it with five laps to go. Not only did that enable him to get by de Vries, a lap later, but pull out a 2.116s advantage by the checkered flag.
Rowland leads Barnard en route to victory. Andrew Ferraro/Getty Images
En route to the top two spots, Rowland and de Vries had to get past Nico Mueller. The Andretti driver pitted with a puncture from contact in the pack in the second lap of the race, but was able to negate the disadvantage by pitting during the FCY for Evans. That cycled him to the lead, but his charger hadn’t actually added the 10 percent of charge it was supposed to, with the FIA having to adjust his car’s state of charge instead to give him access to additional energy.
This meant that while he was in a prime position with more useable energy, with less actual energy, he had to conserve. That left him open to Rowland and de Vries, then a tactical decision was made to swap positions with teammate Jake Dennis.
Dennis, meanwhile, was carrying a five-second penalty for overspeeding during FCY conditions, but with Mueller serving as rear gunner, he was able to negate that and finish third. Mueller ultimately had to settle for fifth, with Edoardo Mortara passing him in the final moments of the race for fourth.
Pascal Wehrlein survived contact with Barnard at the Grand Hotel Hairpin to finish sixth ahead of Dan Ticktum, who lost ground early on.
Robin Frijns, who was repassed by Ticktum as he fought back from his early woes – which included taking too much curb on the entry to, then missing the Nouvelle Chicane on lap 5 – finished eighth, with Stoffel Vandoorne and Maximilian Guenther rounding out the top 10.
Having led from pole early on and still being in the podium fight until his lap 24 contact with Wehrlein, Barnard finished down in 16th, two places ahead of Cassidy, who tumbled back down the order, having to conserve in the latter stages. His Jaguar TCS Racing teammate Evans was able to get going again after his stoppage but finished 20th out of the 21 finishers.
Antonio Felix da Costa was the only retirement of the race. His day ended on lap 8 when a move up the inside of David Beckmann and Mortara at the final corner sent him into the wall, blocking the track, necessitating a first FCY period.
Beckmann was able to continue despite being collected in the incident, but received a drive-through penalty, converted to a 33-second time penalty for not respecting the minimum pit stop time.
The second race of the doubleheader is Sunday at 9:00am ET, with a delayed telecast airing on CBS at 12:00pm ET/
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