When looking back on the 2023 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, it’s crystal clear that the all-electric series absolutely delivered on every single level, with Jake Dennis having been the driver to collect the title trophy at the end of it. Understandably, Dennis admits that it’s been “a pretty special year”.
Roll back the clock to almost 12 months ago and Dennis was a driver many viewed as a genuine title contender, but very few expected him to blitz the field like he did in Mexico City. Winning by a mile is a rarity in Formula E, but that’s exactly what the Andretti Formula E driver did, after winning the season-opener by almost eight seconds.
This result alone was enough to inform the world that Dennis wasn’t just a title contender, he was suddenly a title favourite. Consecutive second-place finishes in the Diriyah double-header cemented his place as a title favourite, along with Pascal Wehrlein. Alas, Wehrlein faded as the season developed, whilst Dennis just grew in strength after overcoming a challenging run of poor events.
A four-race non-point scoring streak followed Diriyah, with an uncharacteristic error in the first race in Berlin having suddenly left his title chances in the balance. After finishing 18th in the opening race in Germany, Dennis tumbled from second to fourth in the Drivers’ Championship. All of a sudden, Dennis was left in a precarious position, to the extent that he had to perform well in the second E-Prix in the German capital.
In true World Champion fashion, that’s exactly what he did. Dennis finished third in the second race in Berlin to end his poor form and bring his title fight back to life. The British driver was then deadly consistent for the remainder of season nine, as his P2 in Berlin R2 was the first of five consecutive rostrums. In actual fact, from Berlin R2 to the season finale in London, Dennis finished outside the top-three on just one occasion (Rome R1).
Amongst his record-breaking 11 podiums, Dennis claimed victory in Rome R2, which put him in the position to seal the Drivers’ Championship in the opening race of the season finale double-header in London. Like a champion, he defied the odds to clinch the crown at the first opportunity.
It’s staggering to think that it’s been five months since Dennis became Formula E’s first British World Champion; however, it’s given the Andretti star the chance to “take it all in”. Having had plenty of time to soak up his achievement, Dennis is now ready to kickstart his title defence on January 13 back in Mexico City.
“It’s been a long time since July, since I won it,” Dennis said during a press conference at the FIA Prize-Giving ceremony in Baku, Azerbaijan. “That’s one of the nice things about Formula E. You still get the whole summer to celebrate and take it all in! I’m very eager to get Season 10 going already.”
Dennis’ road to title glory was a phenomenal one, with 11 podiums in 16 races being an unbelievable achievement. Given how chaotic and unpredictable Formula E races are, going on a run of eight podium finishes in nine races is unheard of. Even he admits that it was his “consistency” that sealed him the title, in what was a year he’ll never forget.
“The consistency was obviously what won us the championship in the end,” Dennis identified. “To have 11 podiums in Formula E is not easy but we ended up breaking our own record at each race! So it was a pretty special year.
“I have a great team around me, we’ve got some really good people inside of Andretti and then the Porsche powertrain was extremely efficient, especially in the racing. The way the races were playing out with this whole slipstream room effect was quite complex. But nevertheless, we had a good understanding of how the races would work.
“If you’re driving a natural combustion engine, then you just want to lead from the front the whole time. But with electric batteries, it is important to be efficient at the same time. So really calculating when to go to the front of the race was the hardest part.
“It’s just a calculation process and a bit of a driver feel, everyone’s trying to make the jump at the same time. I got it right quite a lot of the time, but there were a few times where I got it wrong and it punished us. I felt like Andretti and I had a pretty good understanding of that.”
Very few drivers have been able to adapt to Formula E as quickly as Dennis has. Season nine marked only his third season in the all-electric series, suggesting that he’s only set to grow stronger. Dennis has raced for Andretti since his first day in Formula E, with him not set to leave the Americans anytime soon, as he’s signed a multi-year contract extension during the off-season.
If Dennis can match his season nine consistency in season 10, then the championship standings come the end of 2024 will likely be replicated. There is absolutely no doubting the fact that Dennis has it in his locker to defend his Formula E crown, something only Jean-Éric Vergne has done before. Could Dennis become the second?
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