Winners and losers from Formula E's first Monaco double-header

The end of a six-year victory drought and damp-but-drying conditions on Sunday suggested there was enough Monaco magic to go round for a Formula E double-header after all.

Here's Sam Smith's pick of winners and losers:

Winner: Oliver Rowland

"I couldn't ask for too much more from the weekend and I'm not sure there was too much I could have done more."

When a driver offers up such a quote you know it’s been a successful weekend, and Oliver Rowland and Nissan's was damn near perfect last weekend.

A win, a second and a pole position allowed him to stretch out the championship lead he's had since the second round at Mexico City in January to a very healthy 48 points.

That he did it with such classically front-footed panache and decisiveness will further worry his direct competitors for this year's title because just when they saw a slightly off Rowland at Homestead last month, he turns around and slaps them all full in the face with a devastating display.

While Saturday's win had elements of fortune about it, including an issue at likely winner Nico Mueller's Pit Boost stop, Rowland's first pole of the season on Sunday and a strong run to second place was perhaps even better.

That is because the Nissan package is far from the strongest in wet to drying conditions that were prevalent and struggles in some aspects in applying its power from certain corners.

"I think they [Jaguar and customer Envision] had a slightly stronger car when it was drier, and I had a bit stronger car when it was wet," Rowland told The Race.

The only slight concern was when Rowland got embroiled in a heated "fisticuffs" situation with Jean-Eric Vergne at the harbourside chicane and had to give the position back at a crucial juncture of the race. His Nissan team boss Tommaso Volpe admitted it gave him some "big heartbeats".

"It probably was a little too much, but I mean overall in the economy of a race it was the only moment when he took a big risk.

"But generally, Oliver's intelligence and his way to interpret the races is a perfect chemistry that is bringing a real holistic view on the race.

"He has in mind what drivers in 10 positions behind him are doing and he already has this umbrella view on the race. I think this is what is making the difference."

Loser: Porsche

Despite some middling points for Porsche (28), it drifts into the losers category because so much more was expected from Monaco, a track where its hoodoo of never even standing on the podium continues for a fifth year.

Porsche is actually quite fortunate that Nissan was only in a one-driver-scoring scenario again, which let it off reasonably scot-free once more as its teams' title lead was only dented by 18 points.

What caused that were several flashpoints that counted against Pascal Wehrlein (an incident with Taylor Barnard on Saturday, poor feel on tyres and frustrating mid-pack dogfight on Sunday) and Antonio Felix da Costa's 50/50 shunt with Mortara's Mahindra on Saturday.

Perhaps the highlight was da Costa's fightback on Sunday when, in a rebuilt Porsche 99X Electric after its front powertrain driveshaft chunked a part of the tub, he drove strongly to fourth place to just protect his second place in the championship by a single point over his team-mate.

Overall, Porsche will be internally disappointed with its results. Yet, bigger picture, its drivers still have the capacity to hunt Rowland down in the title race and also chase what Porsche is really hankering after: the teams' and manufacturers' crown, the second of those it now has a 29-point deficit to Nissan in.

Winner: Sebastien Buemi

You are never owed anything in motorsport, especially in Formula E. Drivers talk of good and bad luck but deep down they know there are usually solid reasons why results come and results go.

When a win famine, such as in the case of Sebastien Buemi's almost six-year barren spell occurs, questions naturally start to formulate. The 36-year-old has been an ever-present in the all-electric series and so speculation has mounted that his best days are long since gone.

The Race has certainly touched on that, but at the same time has also illustrated why Buemi is always a dangerous proposition. Even so, the results have rarely come in the last 18 months, meaning that a degree of doubt has fused in.

It finally all came together on Sunday in Monaco, though, where Buemi "had it under control and even in terms of pace".

"I was not pushing flat out. I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't do any mistakes. But you go through a lot of stages of worry."

"I read your articles saying, 'I'm too old and you're going to get replaced and you can't do it anymore'," Buemi told The Race on Sunday evening, referring to occasions when speculation suggests his time on the top step might have come and gone.

"Even so, I usually don't care that much. Yet, at some point, when it's been like 70 races [the actual figure was 82] since you won a race, you start to question yourself."

Buemi could have won at least one race before now since joining Envision, particularly at the ExCeL in July 2023 when overly complicated choreography between himself and then team-mate Nick Cassidy ended that chance.

But Monaco was a bit of a masterclass from his side of the garage and certainly from the man himself.

His race reading was just right, and so was the attack mode execution. Put simply, Buemi and his crew took away several elements of randomness from the race and grabbed control at the right times.

"I don't like those [pack] races when you go four wide," said Buemi.

"I think a bit of [energy] saving to create some overtaking opportunities is great. And the last two races, because of the Pit Boost and today the rain, proved that, in my opinion, it's a nicer race to watch [without Pit Boost]."

So yes, the race suited Buemi a bit more. But also, his return to the top step owed everything to an inspired strategy, strong pace, no errors and a glimpse into perhaps why Buemi can add a few more wins to his long Formula E career and stretch away a little more as Formula E's most successful driver where wins are concerned.

Loser: McLaren

"To be where we were it was just hugely frustrating and what we've got to do is understand that."

Stern words from McLaren team principal Ian James, who witnessed a kind of slow motion implosion of what was initially an incredibly promising scenario, as Barnard's mega second pole position dissipated at Monaco.

The honest and forthright points didn't stop there, though.

"We cannot have any more races or any more weekends like this. It's as simple as that," added James.

Barnard's superb semi-final defeat of a flying Dan Ticktum remained the highlight of a crumbling weekend which hit rock bottom when Sam Bird shunted heavily at Ste Devote for the second successive season. Despite a herculean effort by the team to get the car in a state for Bird to start the race from the pitlane, there was to be no fairytale like Bird's stupendous victory from zero to hero for Jaguar in New York City in 2021.

What caught McLaren out on Sunday was that it chose to switch quite late on to more of a dry set-up in the hope that the track would dry out.

But with a degree of humidity from the low cloud hugging the Le Rocher hill above the Principality the track simply didn't dry as quickly as anticipated and therefore both drivers struggled to get temperature into their all-weather Hankook tyres.

Lowly 16th- and 20th-place finishes for Barnard and Bird respectively was the depressing upshot, and therefore the memory of Barnard leading confidently on Saturday afternoon (before getting compromised via a clash with Wehrlein's Porsche) had aged very badly come Sunday evening.

Winner: Mahindra

Is Mahindra Formula E's surprise package this season or just more of a consistent one that is also the most improved?

It might actually be a bit of both. An excellent Nyck de Vries grabbed his first podium since the London E-Prix in July 2022 in impressive style on Saturday, and then backed it up by leading Sunday’s race and adding 10 points for fifth place (his best combined score in a Formula E double-header since London in July 2021), bringing deserved smiles and back-slaps at the Indian manufacturer, which is set to become a customer team for Gen4.

With team-mate Edoardo Mortara's more erratic yet useful 12-point contribution, Mahindra has thrust itself from fifth to third place in the teams' standings ahead of some it could only dream of outscoring in the last two difficult campaigns.

Specifically on De Vries' strongest showing since returning to Formula E from Formula 1 in early 2024, team boss Frederic Bertrand was effusive in praise - saying he believed that the 2021 champion had "a strong confidence from the beginning".

"The moment the pace was there in the morning he built on it. Every session he built on it," said Bertrand.

"Probably one of the big differences is that compared to some events where we had good times in practice but it was kind of one lap, not each lap, each time we were getting out, each time we had the best lap here.

"That was probably one thing which built his confidence additionally. Then he was definitely on fire."

Loser: Kiro

Potential unfulfilled - again!

Dan Ticktum looked nailed on for at least a podium on Saturday lunchtime, topping both free practice sessions and then qualifying a best-ever third in the original Gen3-spec Porsche 99X Electric.

But like Ticktum's erratic, sometimes funny/sometimes tiresome temper, the team's hopes spiked, foamed and then blew up accordingly with only a seventh place on Saturday to show.

There is lots that is new in this set-up but with a car that was the best package on the grid less than a season ago, a lot more should have been delivered so far. Is it a case of things just not gelling as quickly as hoped, or is it that the team just isn’t capable of operating in anything other than the midfield at best?

Whatever it is, the mistakes are still happening - witness Ticktum not being able to get into 350kW mode in qualifying on Sunday - and as a consequence Cupra Kiro is just getting gobbled up by slicker and savvier opponents. At times it feels like professionals versus amateurs.

It should all be a deep concern for a team that, according to its team principal last weekend, is targeting 100 points. So far it has 18, is bottom of the table and has exactly the same amount of reward as newcomer Lola Yamaha Abt.

And Ticktum? He inevitably reverted to type with ranty explainers on his social media. Formula E's great gem remains unrealised.

This team clearly needs some strong leadership ASAP because frankly it feels like the wild west at the moment. And Ticktum was not completely innocent himself; witness him getting sucked into the Cassidy trap at Mirabeau and being made to look a bit daft.

Kiro feels like an operation that needs a new way forward with sound decision making to realise potential that frankly is presently being totally squandered.

Winner: Nick Cassidy

Nick Cassidy went from being in "Monsters Inc...fighting a monster" in practice on Saturday to climbing from 13th to third on Sunday, in one of the biggest swings in performance and result in recent Formula E times.

A desperate Saturday was quickly followed by a brilliant Sunday for the Kiwi, who drove one of his best ever Formula E races to step onto a podium which seemed just a distant dream just hours before.

That drive featured an aggressive strategy (an early attack mode strike-off), all about gaining track position and this was evidenced by a tasty and perhaps marginal exchange with Dan Ticktum at Mirabeau.

"I really made sure that I gave him a car's width on the inside but he's tried to outbrake me and I've had much better traction because I was on four-wheel drive," Cassidy told The Race.

"I braked as late as I could and I've got a really good car on systems on the brakes. I think he just applied maybe that bit too much brake pressure, locked the front and he was gone.

"I was quite proud of myself that I could trick him into that and then get the place so that was I think a good turning point."

Cassidy's progress was evident early doors with first-lap moves and, then as the conditions dried, he was able to knuckle down and make further bold moves after leaving his second attack mode slightly later than those around him. As a consequence, he could pick off Maximilian Guenther, Vergne and De Vries clinically.

The Gen3 Evo Jaguar is a temperamental beast with a short fuse and narrow performance window and it will unlikely allow its drivers any sniff of a late title charge or indeed anything approaching it.

It means Cassidy's faced "probably the most frustrating period of my life" because he knows that somewhere within his car there is performance. But more positively, and in the context of a long lean spell away from the podium (since Shanghai last June), he is "really seeing the fruits of work and it feels like a huge monkey off my shoulders".

Loser: Mitch Evans

A glorious win 12 months ago for Mitch Evans felt as far away as could possibly be last weekend as his miserable season, bar a surprise opening race win in Sao Paulo, continued to play out with crushing disappointment.

But this is no critique on Evans, who personally didn't contribute to what is now a barely credible sixth consecutive non-points score.

He has been on the butt end of poor reliability and poor strategic calls on more than one occasion this season, and at Monaco last weekend the scorched earth points famine continued thanks to a battery issue on Saturday and a strategy gamble that backfired on Sunday.

But the reality was that, a strong qualifying apart on Saturday and a super strong free practice period on Sunday, Evans never really looked like coming away with anything much from another desperate weekend.

"Probably we were in for maybe a top 10, P8 or P9 finish with Mitch but we felt there was a gamble worth taking on the safety car," team boss James Barclay explained to The Race.

That gamble was coming in for new tyres with different pressure settings as the track dried but according to Barclay "unfortunately the track didn't dry at the rate we really needed it to".

"It could have really paid off but it didn't really and running a P14 we thought it's worth a go."

That will all feel very hollow for Evans, who would have been excused for drinking the pain away at his local bar on Sunday evening, such is his wretched luck in 2025.

Loser: Pit Boost

There is a lot that is commendable about Formula E sticking with its sporting innovation with the energy boosting system that adds yet another twist to the dynamic of wham-bam races.

Andretti's costly Monaco Pit Boost malfunction explained

Read more

The suspicion that it's much too much for the races is now quite clear. Saturday's race didn't need pitstops, and when a failure of Andretti's system probably scuppered a sensational off-strategy win for Nico Mueller, there was a palpable flat feeling not just in the Andretti pit but also among most of the paddock.

Spec parts have ruined races before in Formula E so it's nothing new and there is an element of this technology being fresh and new.

But in the overall context of the gestation of this project and the fact that many believe it's an unnecessary addition to the races, the Mueller issue was felt particularly keenly on Saturday evening - and not just by the driver himself and his Andretti team.