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In Numbers
ROKiT Venturi Racing
Championship// 1st [68 points]
Edoardo Mortara
Free Practice One // 14th
Free Practice Two // 19th
Qualifying // 2nd [1:07.373, Final]
Race // 5th
Fastest Lap // 1:10.188
Championship // 1st [43 points]
Lucas di Grassi
Free Practice One // 20th
Free Practice Two // 10th
Qualifying // 14th [1:08.129, Group A]
Race // 12th
Fastest Lap // 1:09.487
Championship // 8th [25 points]
In Detail
ROKiT Venturi Racing secured a top five finish at the 2022 Mexico City E-Prix to maintain the lead in both the Formula E Drivers’ and Teams’ World Championships.
In the series’ first visit to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez since 2020, drivers Edoardo Mortara and Lucas di Grassi showed potential throughout practice ahead of qualifying for the third race of Season 8.
From Group A, Edo successfully advanced to the duel stages for a second weekend in succession while a small mistake in Sector Three relegated Lucas to 14th on the grid.
Edo defeated Robin Frijns and André Lotterer in the quarter and semi-final stages to face Pascal Wehrlein in the final, but following a spin in the final dash to the line, qualified in second.
From the front row of the grid, the Swiss-Italian secured a strong getaway to contend for the lead into Turn One, although Wehrlein maintained first in the opening stages.
Lucas, meanwhile, made immediate progress on the opening lap and by passing Mitch Evans, Alexander Sims and Oliver Askew, advanced to 11th, sitting on the verge of points.
With 38 minutes + one lap remaining, Edo activated Attack Mode for the first time and used the temporary power advantage to overtake Wehrlein into Turn One to ascend to the lead.
Despite facing mounting pressure, however, Edo remained at the head of the field for 19 laps before slipping to third after being overtaken by both Porsche drivers in Turns One and Three.
Locked in duel with Frijns and Jean-Eric Vergne in the final stages, Edo briefly fell to sixth but in a clinical run to the flag, overtook the former to secure fifth at the line.
Behind, Lucas made progress throughout the race and ran as high as seventh after dueling with both Mercedes-EQ drivers, Nissan’s Maximilian Günther and Envision Racing’s Nick Cassidy.
After picking up front wing damage, the Brazilian struggled for pace but recovered from 13th in the final stages to take eighth at the flag before receiving a five-second time penalty post-race which relegated him to 12th.
By advancing his Season 8 total by 10 points, Edo continues to lead the World Drivers’ Championship while ROKiT Venturi Racing remains at the head of the World Teams’ Standings with 68 points.
In Their Words
“In terms of the strategy, today’s race was very challenging to navigate because the distance was so variable. In the second half, it was clear that we were down on energy but Edo and our engineering team did an incredible job to react well and recover the energy. Edo deserved a podium today but he did well to recover to fifth at the end. Lucas also did well to cut through the field after starting down in 14th and he was unlucky to receive his penalty post-race which stripped him of eighth. By carrying our points momentum this weekend, we continue to lead both the Drivers’ and Teams’ World Championships and we have some time before the Rome E-Prix to regroup so we can come back stronger than ever.”
“Because of the strategy today’s race was very interesting and it was great to be back in Mexico City in front of such a passionate crowd. Our performance in qualifying was very strong and for consecutive race weekends, we were able to start from the front row. I made a good start and thought about overtaking Pascal [Wehrlein] into Turn One but thought better of it. When we took the lead, the race distance was borderline but because of the pace, we ended up doing one lap more. This meant that I had to save quite a lot of energy which put me under pressure and as a result, it was quite difficult to defend. Formula E is a championship that rewards consistency so now, our full focus moves onto Rome which is a circuit that we have performed well at in the past.”
“Today’s race was crazy and very frustrating at times. I believe we had the pace to progress to the duel stages in qualifying but because of a mistake, I started in 14th. During the race, I made a good start but as I was overtaking [Nyck] de Vries he moved to the middle of the straight and we made contact. This meant that I broke my front wing and because of that, I struggled to match the pace of the cars around me and I had to consume more energy to hold position and defend. NeverthelessI fought hard and made it up to eighth place with the fastest lap of the race but my penalty after my contact with [Stoffel] Vandoorne moved me out of the points. The good news is that we retain our team championship lead, and we know we have a long road ahead - we know that the car is competitive and we know where we have to improve and we’re going to fight back in Rome”.
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