Discordant 1-2 for Jaguar at Madrid E-Prix as da Costa beats fuming teammate Evans

Antonio Felix da Costa won his second Formula E race in succession in the Madrid E-Prix at Jarama, leading a Jaguar 1-2 ahead of Mitch Evans.

Da Costa started third on the grid and got the better of second-place starter Nyck de Vries off the line but the Mahindra driver managed to hold the place on the exit of the first turn as polesitter Nick Cassidy held off both to retain the lead. He was among the first group of drivers to pit on lap 11 of 23, a strategy that proved pivotal as once everyone’s stops were completed, he’d cycled to the lead. A brief challenge from Maximilian Guenther five laps later amounted to nothing as the DS Penske driver couldn't do anything with the energy disadvantage he'd accrued.

By lap 18, da Costa had taken his sole Attack Mode and maintained the lead. His biggest challenges came in the final three laps, firstly from Dan Ticktum, then Evans.

Ticktum picked off Sebastien Buemi at Turn 2 with the help of Attack Mode, then sent it round the outside of Turn 7 to steal second from Pascal Wehrlein. From there the Cupra Kiro driver set chase on da Costa, but Evans – on an alternate strategy to his Jaguar teammate having pitted late after cycling up the order from 16th on the grid – was looming.

Evans had already picked off Wehrlein at the final chicane on lap 21 for third, then went round the outside of Ticktum at Turn 10.

For the final lap, Evans – who had a one-percent energy advantage over da Costa – was all over his teammate but couldn't find a way by. He tried round the outside at Turn 8, and had another look at Turn 11 but da Costa remained resolute.

A last-corner lunge from Ticktum on Evans threatened Jaguar's 1-2, but Evans kept the place and the move opened the door for Wehrlein, who snatched third in the final seconds of the race.

Having an energy advantage over da Costa, Evans was fuming post-race, feeling that the team should have capitalized on that and the win should have been his – despite the fact he’d progressed 14 places from his starting spot.

Evans’ second place, however, is under threat as he is under investigation for a pit procedure infringement after a mechanic was deemed to be out of position during his stop.

For now, it's Jaguar's first 1-2 finish since Monaco 2024. The win for da Costa is his 14th in Formula E, putting him just one off Evans' record of 15, and it comes in his 150th start in the series.

Wehrlein's third came despite a lap 2 collision with de Vries, who'd misjudged his braking point into Turn 10 and ran up the back of the Porsche driver. Mahindra driver de Vries would eventually finish down in 18th after serving a penalty for the incident and taking a new front wing during his Pit Boost stop.

His teammate Edoardo Mortara finished fifth behind Ticktum, with Sebastien Buemi sixth for Envision Racing after falling out of podium contention late on with his earlier use of Attack Mode leaving him to get swamped by the eventual top five, who'd all saved their use for later.

Jake Dennis finished seventh for Andretti, ahead of Nico Mueller and Pepe Marti, who took a popular ninth place in his first home race to help Kiro to its second-consecutive double points finish. Joel Eriksson was the final points finisher in 10th.

Cassidy finished down in 17th, behind Oliver Rowland who served a penalty for over-consumption early in the race, and ahead of only de Vries, Taylor Barnard and Zane Maloney, all of whom served penalties during the race.

The Citroen driver started from pole but was held up behind the Kiros of Marti – who'd used his Attack Mode early to cycle through the to the front – and Ticktum. Over-consuming behind both, he came over the radio pleading for the privateer Porsche entries to up the pace, then debated with his team over whether to pit, eventually coming in on lap 14. The time behind the Kiros had cost him dearly though and when he emerged – in 12th – he was down on energy and eventually out of the Attack Mode window compared to the front-runners.

Wehrlein maintains the points lead, with his gap ahead of Mortara growing from six points to 11. Evans moves up from fifth to third, with da Costa moving up three places to fourth.

Cassidy started the race third in the standings after his three points from pole, but slipped to fifth after his non-score, with reigning champion Rowland slipping to seventh after also failing to score in Madrid, falling behind Mueller who maintains sixth.

Porsche still holds the lead in the teams' championship over Jaguar – its lead shrinking from 27 points to just four – while its lead in the manufacturers' standings also goes from 19 points to just three.

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