How Evans made his poor qualifying form pay off with Berlin E-Prix race victory

Mitch Evans says that his qualifying struggles this year inspired his gamble to save tires and accept a lower starting position in the second Berlin E-Prix race, which he went on to win.

The Jaguar TCS Racing driver has only made it to the qualifying Duels once this season compared to three times by the same point last year and three times in the last four races of last season (which included another Berlin doubleheader), and anticipating another lowly starting position for the second race of the weekend, he says he suggested to his team that he could save tires for a push through the field in the race.

“I've been really slow all weekend over one lap,” he said. “Yesterday's quali, even though it was tight, I qualified 16th.

“To be honest, most of the season I've been really slow, well, been struggling compared to what I normally am in qualifying, so with the race today I kind of put it to the team to try and save the tires and just accept the start towards the back, because I was a high chance I'd be starting back there anyway.

“[It’s] hard to know how much it paid off using the new tire, but it certainly didn't hurt.”

RACE REPORT: Evans charges from 17th to win second Berlin E-Prix

Evans started 17th on the 20-car grid but was leading by lap 27 after patiently saving energy in the pack then using his first Attack Mode – a six-minute use compared to the more favorable four minutes – to make up ground.

“With my race it was just all about patience and just waiting for the right time to go for my first Attack,” he said. “But my energy advantage was obviously pretty big, from what I was hearing, so I was just biding my time.

“The other guys that were doing my strategy went a little bit earlier, and I wasn't sure if I maybe missed the window or not, but I was pretty confident waiting was going to pay off, and it did.”

Waiting paid off for Evans, both in use of tires and Attack Mode power boost. Simon Galloway/Getty Images

Evans’ win – his second of the season – came days after it was announced he would be leaving Jaguar after 10 years, but far from downing tools while awaiting for his next move, Evans is keen to end Formula E’s longest driver/team relationship with a long-awaited title.

“I'm still very much a Jaguar driver, and I'm still trying to pull off my first championship, and I'd love to do it with them,” he said. “It'd be an amazing story if I can do that in my last season.

“But for me, it's kind of business as usual. I'm just ticking off the races, just keep trying to accumulate good points, and days like today are perfect for that. So not much is going to change between now and my last race with them.”

The next two races are in Monaco, which has been a happy hunting ground for him in the past. While he failed to score there last season, he enjoyed four consecutive podiums between 2021 and '24, including a win in the 2024 race – the last single race before the event adopted a doubleheader format. But with his one-lap struggles so far this season, Evans is predicting something of an uphill task in the principality.

“Historically, Monaco is a good track for me, but last year was a little bit trickier,” he said. “And to be honest, this year my raw speed, for one lap, has not been quite there. So I think it's not going to be as straightforward as previous years. And I've got to work out what's going on and where that kind of pace deficit’s coming from because compared to last year, it feels like the lap time’s lying to me every time I cross the line, but it's just so competitive at the same time.

“So everything has to be perfect for you to be quick, and as we know [in] Monaco, it's always helpful to have to have track position.

“I hope I can turn things around from that part of my game and not need to recover all the time. We've been pretty open about it internally. This topic’s been a topic for quite a few races, so we'll hopefully get on top of it as soon as possible, because there will be races where qualifying is is very important.

“I've been lucky recently that I can recover from good strategy calls and good race pace. So yeah, [a] bit of work to do.”