Oliver Rowland took victory in Race 1 of the 2025 Formula E Monaco E-Prix after avoiding trouble within two full course yellow flag periods, with his title rivals scoring no points.
A brilliant effort from Mahindra Racing saw Nyck de Vries finish second, with Edoardo Mortara fourth, split by the Andretti of Jake Dennis.
Rowland’s third victory of the season further enhances his credentials as a championship favourite, and in a strong position with Race 2 on Sunday.
Early Rowland troubles come to nothing as Barnard holds the advantage
At lights out, Barnard fended off Rowland, as de Vries took Ticktum for third. As per usual, cars were jostling for position early on, with cars three abreast at the hairpin.
Before Lap 1 even ended, Rowland complained of a “weird noise” coming from his car.
The annual contentious battle between Wehrlein and Dennis began with the Porsche taking the Andretti for fifth, as Rowland continued to stay close to Barnard despite the supposed car issue.
Nico Mueller pitted at the end of Lap 2 with a puncture, but was able to rejoin, but now at the tail end.
The early pace was slow, with Barnard bunching-up the pack, with lap times around 10 seconds off the fastest qualifying times.
Beckmann was mow in the points, as Cassidy worked his way up to 12th, past da Costa, making up seven places.
Rowland continued to shrug off his early issues and was within three tenths of Barnard, as Ticktum fell behind Wehrlein, with Cassidy now in eighth, ahead of his team-mate, who started 11 places ahead.
Ticktum continued to tumble down the order, now eighth behind Dennis, Cassidy, and Frijns. Cassidy was now using all of his pack racing skills to reach sixth, within two seconds of Barnard, who continued to lead.
On Lap 7, Ticktum muscled his way past Frijns at the hairpin for seventh, with many drivers in the bottom half of the pack using Attack Mode for the first time.
Ticktum began to claw his way back, hounding Cassidy at Rascasse but failing to take the place. On the run down to Mirabeau, Ticktum again went for a gap but Cassidy shut the door, allowing Evans to have a go, but the Kiro shut the door on him to stay in-front.
Yellow flags out as da Costa’s race ended
At the end of Lap 8, da Costa was out, nose-first into the inside wall at Anthony Noughes after attempting to dive-bomb Edoardo Mortara, who him self was looking for a gap on Beckmann.
As Cassidy, Ticktum and Evans all jostled for position as the full course yellow came out, halting all overtaking..
With two full laps under the FCY, racing resumed with Dennis the quickest to respond by jumping Wehrlein and de Vries for third.
Dennis began to hustle Rowland who was hustling Barnard, diving down the inside at Turn 15, forcing the McLaren to take to the run-off and keeping the lead.
Rowland against went for a lunge on Barnard, this time at the Nouvelle Chicane, with Barnard again taking to the run-off to avoid contact.
At Rascasse, the pressure became too much as Rowland took the lead with Dennis looking to follow suit, but was held-off.
As the rhythm of the race began to be found, the FCY was out again, with Evans’ Jaguar creeping to a halt towards Portier.
Rowland took four minutes of Attack Mode as racing got underway again on Lap 15, with Ticktum and Frijns following suit.
Mortara and Jean-Eric Vergne all went for Pit Boost as Lap 16 began, as Barnard, Dennis, Frijns and Norman Nato followed in one lap later, with Rowland now leading by two seconds ahead of de Vries.
On Lap 19, Rowland pitted, promoting Beckmann into the lead with Jake Hughes second, but having yet to pit, the net leader was Mueller, who pitted under the FCY.
The Andretti was also in possession of two Attack Modes and a nearly 12 second lead on Rowland, leaving him sitting pretty with nine laps to go.
Mueller took his first Attack Mode on Lap 20, as Cassidy looked to take the lead, the Kiwi another beneficiary, but he was running significantly less power, having used all his attacks.
Four-way battle for the win ensues
Rowland was able to utilise his energy advantage on Cassidy to take second, closing the gap to Mueller to just 1.8 seconds with six laps left.
Mueller took Attack Mode and just stayed ahead of Rowland, but the Nissan continued to apply pressure on the Andretti but with Rowland unable to use any further extra power, Mueller stayed ahead into Lap 24 as de Vries then took second.
Further back, Wehrlein dived down the inside of Barnard, pushing the McLaren towards the barrier at the exit of the hairpin. Without touching it, Barnard reversed out of danger and back into the race, but now down in 17th.
Meanwhile, de Vries went for the lead at the Nouvelle, taking it but with Dennis now making a late charge, the Andrettis were switched.
Dennis now got himself into contention, weaving every which way to go for the lead, but de Vries held-off, as Rowland took Mueller for third and then Dennis.
The inevitable happened on the exit of the tunnel, with Rowland using extra power to slide ahead of de Vries and into the lead.
Dennis’ shot at victory was gone and then was given a five-second penalty for overspending during the FYC, when he gained two places.
Rowland seizes the initiative again
With three laps to go, Rowland was now 1.7 seconds ahead of de Vries, with Dennis third but effectively out of the podium places due to his penalty, as Mueller tucked in behind in fourth.
Mueller cleverly slowed to create a gap, the gap between Andrettis now six seconds, giving Dennis third place on the road and in reality.
With the gap a steady 1.6 seconds, Rowland was able to relax a little and round the final lap with ease, and duly took the win, with de Vries second, and Dennis third.
Mortara snatched fourth off Mueller at the end, with Wherein sixth, Ticktum seventh, Frijns eighth, Stoffel Vandoorne driving well to claim ninth, with Maximilian Guenther rounding-up the top 10.
It enhances Rowland’s title lead, particularly with da Costa and Barnard failing to score, leaving them needing to score big in Race 2 to claw back the deficit.
READ MORE – Monaco E-Prix: Oliver Rowland crashes in final to hand Taylor Barnard pole position
