Oliver Rowland would have wanted more during his return to the Nissan team than to start 20th out of the points. However, the driver had a personal achievement to show for his efforts in the Formula E season opener: winning the ABB Driver of Progress award at the Hankook E-Prix in Mexico City.
Rowland saw positives from his near-miss in the points in Mexico, where he moved up nine places after qualifying traffic left him starting from the tenth row of the grid.
Mexico had an E-Prix with many multi-car groups and no one gave an inch, so progressing was difficult. However, Rowland was able to give himself a crucial advantage that allowed him to overtake some rivals and show that the Nissan package had potential.
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Overtaking
The entrants stayed so close together that they thwarted a familiar strategy for those starting a Formula E race from the back, which is to gradually gain places in the second half.
Running head to tail in this race didn’t afford Rowland that luxury, nor did the fact that everyone was closely matched in power consumption for much of the E-Prix.
But Rowland set up his race smartly. He stayed out of trouble in the early laps and moved from 20th to 14th by letting others have mishaps.
He also activated his attack mode for six minutes while running without losing sight of his opponents.
The Mexico E-Prix saw German Pascal Wehrlein triumph once again at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, in what promises to be another close season for the electric single-seater series.
