“It was just amazing to go toe to toe with these guys and try and outsmart each other, and we always said it’s like playing chess out there.” If the inaugural Sao Paulo E-Prix had indeed been the equivalent of a chess match, there’s no doubt that Mitch Evans would have been granted the rank of Grandmaster, since the Kiwi judged his moves to perfection en route to victory – his and Jaguar’s first of the season.
Seven official changes for the lead, among 144 overtaking moves in total, underlined the thrilling spectacle on Formula E’s first visit to Brazil, which at times resembled a Formula Ford race such was the effect of the slipstream. The race also firmly signified Jaguar’s emergence as a serious rival to Porsche in the championship battle, with the German manufacturer until now the class of the field. In all but one of the first five races of 2023 (with the exception of Jean-Eric Vergne’s win in Hyderabad for DS Penske) the season had generally been dominated by Porsche, but the pecking order changed on the streets of Sao Paulo. Jaguar proved it has lost none of its bite, with all three podium finishers powered by the British marque.
If that result was unexpected ahead of the
