Dennis confident he maximized everything after runner-finish in London

“I’ve always said, no one remembers second place,” said Jake Dennis after climbing out of his car following the first race of the London E-Prix having finished in that position. Even so, Pascal Wehrlein’s Saturday dominance left the Andretti driver feeling like he’d achieved more.

Making his way from fifth on the grid, getting by the battling Antonio Felix da Costa and Dan Ticktum in the process, Dennis kept his title hopes alive to head into Sunday just five points adrift of Wehrlein (pictured at right, above, with Dennis), and increased his gap to now-third placed Mitch Evans to 14 points.

But although it was second, that place he said no one remembers, Dennis felt he extracted the maximum.

“I felt like I won it, to be honest,” he said. “Pascal had his own little ‘Sunday drive’ up front, and I felt like I was best at the rest.

“So [I’m] really happy with the execution from the team, the strategy, the pace. That wasn't easy to pass DAC [da Costa] and Ticktum, getting undercut with the Attack Mode, but ultimately, a good car, well executed race leaves us in the hunt for tomorrow.”

Despite the optimism, Dennis is still wary of how chaotic a London E-Prix at the ExCeL Centre – with tomorrow’s being the final race at the venue – can be.

“Those races can easily unfold very quickly, like we saw for Mitch,” he said. “That's obviously a shame for him to lose so many points from that. I think it's the first intervention we've seen all year in a Pit Boost race. So it's a shame, but nevertheless, it's what it is.

“I just need to beat Pascal tomorrow, simple as that. Go out there, do our thing, qualify well, and then get involved. We need to make things happen if I'm behind.”

One way of making things happen could be to utilize teammate Felipe Drugovich and play a team game in the same vein Porsche did with Nico Mueller helping Wehrlein. There was hints of that in Saturday’s race with Dennis imploring the Brazilian to make the most of his early pit window and then set two fast laps to bring him up into the podium battle.

“It’s important for sure,” Dennis said of the help his teammate can bring to his title challenge. “Ultimately he's had a tough weekend so far, hasn't quite been on the pace, but hopefully he can close the gap and do a good job in qualifying.

“But I think there's only so much teammates can do. I just need to focus on my own stuff, and hopefully – I've got a few friends out there – try and put me in a position to try and win the thing.”