How we won the 2022 London E-Prix

As the penultimate race weekend of Season 8, tensions were high in the 2022 London E-Prix as the FIA Formula E World Championship returned to the indoor-outdoor ExCeL Circuit.

Following a difficult yet promising opening race, ROKiT Venturi Racing was determined to turn its fortunes around in the second leg of the double-header event.

With a determined drive as soon as practice commenced, Lucas di Grassi was in fine form throughout Sunday, and delivered a strategic masterclass to secure a landmark result.

But how did Lucas’ historic 13th victory in Formula E come about? We’ve delved deep into our data to create a lap-by-lap guide as to how we won the London E-Prix.

Qualifying Group B – Holding eighth in the World Drivers’ Championship, Lucas performs his initial qualifying run in Group B. The Brazilian sets the pace in the second batch of runners and with a 1:13.006 lap at 220kW, advances into the duel stages.

Qualifying Quarter-Final Four – As the fastest driver of Group B, Lucas faces the fourth-fastest driver of Group A, Oliver Askew, in Quarter-Final Four. In their direct head-to-head, the American racer touches the wall on the exit of Turn Six, allowing Lucas to progress to the Semi-Finals.

Qualifying Semi-Final Two – Lucas next faces Dragon / Penske Autosport’s Antonio Giovinazzi in the second part of the Semi-Finals. He edges ahead of the Italian by 0.321 seconds to secure his place in the final fight for pole position.

Qualifying Final – In the final stage of qualifying, Lucas goes up against Race One winner Jake Dennis. A mistake at the start of Sector Three relegates the Brazilian from this closely contested fight, with Dennis edging ahead by 1.084 seconds. Despite missing out on pole position, Lucas secures his best qualifying result of the season to date with second.

Lap One – Lucas secures a strong getaway from the front row when the race commences and holds second place off the line before settling into a rhythm to follow Dennis closely. Only 0.364 seconds separate the pair at the end of the opening tour, with the fight for the win still far from over.

Lap Four – At the expense of usable energy, Dennis tries to build a gap over Lucas. He extends his lead to break the one-second barrier over the chasing pack.

Lap Nine – Lucas darts around the outside of Turn 16 to activate his first of three uses of Attack Mode. Losing 0.677 seconds upon activation, he slips down to third, with Nyck de Vries overtaking on the inside for second.

Lap 10 – Lucas overtakes De Vries who, in turn, activates Attack Mode. In his first full lap with the power boost device, Lucas sets a 1:14.604 lap time to slice his gap to Dennis from 2.055 seconds to 0.613 seconds, after the Briton also deployed the device.

Lap 13 – Following the expiration of his first Attack Mode, Lucas activates his second usage. This time, he maintains second position.

Lap 17 – Lucas’ second Attack Mode activation expires.

Lap 18 – Starting the lap only 0.585 seconds behind the race leader, Lucas overtakes for first position in Turn 16 when Dennis activates his second Attack Mode of the race.

Lap 19 – With a 30kW power advantage, Dennis posts his fastest lap of the race, a 1:14.446. His gap to Lucas closes as a result, with the Andretti driver now only 0.556 seconds adrift.

Lap 21 – Lucas activates his third and final use of Attack Mode and falls to second, with Dennis reclaiming the lead. The Brazilian maintains the gap yet conserves energy with the higher power mode, improving his state of charge without sacrificing speed.

Lap 26 – Lucas’ third Attack Mode usage expires.

Lap 28 – Dennis activates his third Attack Mode which allows Lucas to retake the lead. Upon regaining first position, he starts to spend his additional energy in one final push to the chequered flag.

Lap 29 – Continuing to spend energy, Lucas sets his fastest lap of the race. This 1:14.438 run is 0.670 seconds faster than Dennis, despite the power disparity, with the gap extending to 1.183 seconds.

Lap 38 – After 38 laps of hard-fought racing, Lucas takes the chequered flag by 3.191 seconds to secure his first victory for ROKiT Venturi Racing. This historic result marks the 13th win of his Formula E career – a feat only achieved by one other, Sebastien Buemi. By also posting the fastest lap inside the top 10, he leaps to sixth in the World Drivers’ Championship with only one weekend remaining.