The eighth race of the 2018-2019 Formula E season, the Paris ePrix, resulted in two notable trends related to the parity in the series coming to an end.
Through the first seven races of the 13-race 2018-2019 Formula E season, there were three notable trends related to parity within the world’s top all-electric series that had stood strong.
Through the season’s first seven races, seven different drivers had taken a pole position. Additionally, through these seven races, seven different drivers had won a race. Perhaps most notably, these seven winners represented seven of the sport’s 11 teams.
But the Paris ePrix resulted in two of these three parity-related trends coming to an end.
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First of all, Mahindra Racing’s Pascal Wehrlein took the pole position for the race to make him the first driver to take two pole positions this season, as he also took the pole position for the season’s fourth race, the Mexico City ePrix.
While Wehrlein ended up being stripped of his pole position for the Paris ePrix after the qualifying session ended, Nissan e.dams’ Oliver Rowland was the driver who qualified in second place and ended up being promoted to the pole position.
As a result, Rowland became the first driver to take two pole positions this season, as he also took the pole position for the season’s sixth race, the Sanya ePrix.
Secondly, Envision Virgin Racing’s Robin Frijns ended up winning the Paris ePrix. While this victory made him the eighth different driver to win a race this season, as he had not previously won a race not only this season but throughout his entire Formula E career, it made Envision Virgin Racing the first team to win two races this season.
Back in late January, Envision Virgin Racing earned their first victory of the season when Sam Bird won the season’s third race, the Santiago ePrix. The team nearly became the first team to win two races when Bird won the season’s fifth race, the Hong Kong ePrix, but he ended up being stripped of this victory, which was then handed to Venturi’s Edoardo Mortara, after the race concluded.
The fact that it took eight races to end two of these three trends and the fact that one of these three trends is still standing with eight races having been completed an only five remaining on the 2018-2019 Formula E schedule illustrates just how much parity exists within the series. It simply cannot be matched, much less topped, by any other racing series in the world at this point.