Mitch Evans finally ended his point-less streak with a victory in the Berlin E-Prix for Jaguar, converting pole position into the win over another wet contest this Formula E season.
The Kiwi led for most of the race whilst managing an issue with his brakes and having to fend off an ambitious Pascal Wehrlein, who was chasing a home victory for both himself and TAG Heuer Porsche.
This new piece of silverware also promotes Evans back to the top of the all-time Formula E winners list on 14, sharing the honour with former champion Sebastien Buemi.
Evans started the season well, becoming the first driver in the all-electric championship’s history to go from last to first across a race in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It was a strong launch to the Gen3 Evo era for Jaguar, despite their drivers being vocal with their concerns ahead of the 2024-25 season. Many began to ask if this could finally be Evans’ year, with the Jaguar driver having come so close to a title season after season.
But soon the high of Sao Paulo felt like a distant memory, and it would take Evans another 12 rounds to score a single point. Three DNFs – and a DNS in Tokyo – added to the pain. But today he was able to end the disappointing streak and bank 25 points to his name – none of the usual three for pole position as the qualifying format was shortened due to the inclement weather.
The session ran in two groups, as is standard procedure, but rather than the fastest four from each group going into the duels, the grid was decided by the overall order of each group. From this, the fastest driver would be on pole, with the person second-quickest in their group starting third, and so on.
Evans looked rapid from the get-go, setting purple sectors on almost every outing, and managed the best lap time of qualifying. With his final effort, he was almost a second better than Nissan’s Oliver Rowland, who was second-best in the same group. Describing his car as a “rocketship” today, Evans looked at home in the damp conditions to secure his 10th career pole position.
Mitch Evans, Jaguar TCS Racing
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
Fast-forward to the race, and it was a clean start for Evans, who managed to keep back fellow front-row starter Robin Frijns. Things were quickly brought under a safety car after Jake Dennis’ Andretti failed to get off the line, eventually limping to a stop trackside.
By lap 3, the safety car had peeled in and Evans wasted no time in taking his first Attack Mode activation. Opting to split his strategy with two four-minute bouts, Evans lost a position to Frijns but very quickly gained it back with the extra power and grip available to him.
From there, it was foot to the floor as he extended his lead whilst the track began to dry from the earlier rain. Pit Boost was back for the first race of the double-header, with Evans and Wehrlein behind taking the mandatory boost on lap 24 of 41. Evans kept the net race lead as they fought for the win, with the team warning him that Wehrlein also had four minutes of Attack left but they were in a “good position”.
It’s understood that it was around this time the issues with the brakes started to come into effect.
Not wanting to go into the full details, Evans was cautious about the “big problem” which has previously needed him to stop whilst racing.
“I’ve had it before, and I had to stop. So, once it happened, I thought I might have to stop in the race and I was just like, ‘that just sums up my season’, but luckily I was able to manage through some changes, but it happened quite a few times.
“It allowed Pascal to get closer than I would have liked, but up until then, it was a very manageable and controllable race.”

Race winner Mitch Evans, Jaguar TCS Racing
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
As well as his brake issues, there was also confusion around blue flags involving Sergio Sette Camara, who is covering for Norman Nato at Nissan this weekend. Sette Camara had clashed with Kiro’s David Beckmann laps before, taking the German out of the race, and found himself sandwiched between Evans and Wehrlein when the safety car was deployed.
But, in a unique addition for this race, the rules around blue flags had been changed.
“It was very confusing because I thought that the no-blue-flags rule was just going to apply around the Pit Boost, but it wasn’t the case, so it was really odd. It was a bit confusing,” Evans said. “Luckily, I was able to be on Attack Mode and pass him fast and relatively easy, but it could have been more straightforward.
“What we understood was that we knew people during Pit Boost would come out a lap down. Do you give blue flags there and then we thought, in just that period, there will be no blue flags, but it seemed to be for the whole race.”
Adding to the discussion, Wehrlein added: “I found it very weird, what happened. I lost a lot of time behind him. In some ways I would understand, but in some ways I don’t. It should have been a blue flag. Like Mitch said, there were no blue flags and I think they were telling them on the radio, but we don’t even know what the rule is if we are told on the radio. It shouldn’t happen, they should get out of the way on the first corner.”
Pascal Wehrlein, TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team
Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / LAT Images via Getty Images
Once the Safety Car was brought in, Evans took his second and final Attack Mode and managed to pass Sette Camara. In the final laps, and nursing the brake issue, Evans had the threat of Wehrlein behind who was chomping a tenth out of him almost sector by sector.
A mistake from Wehrlein on the penultimate lap resulted in the gap opening up again and saw Evans take his second win of the season by four tenths of a second. Wehrlein finished second with his Porsche team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa in third; a double podium result for the team at home.
But, no sooner had da Costa crossed the line, the FIA stewards handed him a five-second penalty for causing a collision with Maserati’s Jake Hughes earlier in the race, demoting him to 10th. Instead, Edoardo Mortara made it two consecutive podiums in a row for Mahindra and moved the Indian outfit into fourth in the teams’ standings with three rounds to go.
Evans – who also celebrated his first Formula E victory with new race engineer Alan Cocks – gave a nod to his team-mate Nick Cassidy, who climbed up the grid from 21st to fifth despite a ten-second stop-and-go penalty for exceeding the number of inverters allocated in a season.
Podium: Race winner Mitch Evans, Jaguar TCS Racing
Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / LAT Images via Getty Images
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