Hello and welcome to my review of race 1 of 2026 Hankook London ePrix, the penultimate race of this season and final PitBoost race of the season as well as Gen 3. There are various pieces of new that broke since Tokyo, for both the sport and the drivers in it and this post will focus on the pieces about Formula E and the tomorrow's will focus on the driver news instead. First, the Monaco ePrix doubleheader next season will move to 1st-2nd May 2027 rather than its previous date of 15-16th May as there are events going on in the country on the original weekend, also there is no longer a clash with the World Endurance Championship race at Spa (happy Sebastien Buemi noises). Also Formula E and ACM (Automobile Club de Monaco), the National Motorsport Authority in charge of motorsport events in Monaco, announce that the Monaco ePrix will be on the calendar until 2031 (Season 17 or 1st season of Gen 5). From next season, Disney+ will be the global streaming home for Formula E in a multi-year agreement which will exist alongside current free-to-air agreements.
There are few teams with special liveries this weekend as Porsche Formula E Team are running a tribute to their time being sponsored by Rothmans tobacco back in the early-to-mid 1980s, a time period in which they won 4 24 hours of Le Mans (1982-83 and 1986-87) and 1986 Paris-Dakar Rally. Lucas di Grassi has a multicoloured car as his livery for this weekend takes a small bit of inspiration from the liveries of all the previous seasons he has competed in. DS Penske have inverted their colours for this ePrix, so what was black is now gold and vice-versa.

Qualifying

The Free Practice sessions saw very incidents as Cupra Kiro would initially send Dan Ticktum out in Free Practice 1 with a loose front-right tyre and he had to go around the entire circuit very slowly. In Free Practice 2 Oliver Rowland would clip the wall in turn and damaging his steering, but it was repairable within the session. Also, Nico Mueller would receive a Black-and-White flag for weaving during the session, while Felipe Drugovich would receive the same flag after he made contact with Pascal Wehrlein, which infuriated the German.
Group A consisted of: Jake Dennis, Pascal Wehrlein, Edoardo Mortara, Nick Cassidy, Nyck de Vries, Felipe Drugovich, Jean-Eric Vergne, Dan Ticktum, Lucas Di Grassi, and Norman Nato. Edoardo has 5-place grid penalty for the incident last race and Lucas has a 3-place penalty for speeding under Red Flag conditions. Jake and Nyck thought it was already the race with the moves were throwing against each other as Jake would attempt an overtake in turn 19 which resulted in contact and Nyck would defend aggressively into turn 10 after impeding Jake for entire lap after Jake's move. Both get away with this without penalty. The top 4 in group A and thus made it to the Duel stage were: Pascal, Dan, Jake, and Jean-Eric.
Group B went next and consisted of Mitch Evans, Oliver Rowland, Antonio Felix da Costa, Nico Mueller, Sebastien Buemi, Josep Maria 'Pepe' Marti, Joel Eriksson, Taylor Barnard, Max Guenther, and Zane Maloney. Antonio would clip the wall on the inside of turn 9 and damage his steering, but would continue unlike Max Guenther who would hit the wall on his first build lap with his rear-left wheel and incur suspension damage that was significant enough for DS Penske not send him back out after looking at it. The 4 that made it into Duel stage from group B were: Nico, Mitch, Joel, and Antonio.
The 1st Quarter-Final was between Jake and Dan, with the latter winning by 0.072 seconds while the 2nd Quarter-Final was between Jean-Eric and Pascal with the latter winning by 0.354 seconds. Quarter-Final 3 was between Joel and Mitch which saw the latter advance by a 0.388 seconds, while the final Quarter-Final was between Antonio and Nico which saw the latter moving on by 0.174 seconds after Antonio made a mistake through turn 16. Semi-Final 1 was between Dan and Pascal, which the latter won by 2.679 seconds thanks to manufacturer orders (something that Pascal didn't want his rivals to do), while Semi-Final 2 was between Mitch and Nico, with the latter winning by 0.250 seconds. The Final saw Pascal winning by 1.143 seconds thanks to manufacturer orders, although these kind of shenanigans will be clamped down next season.

Race

Overall Drivers' Championship

Pascal Wehrlein wins the ePrix from Jake Dennis in 2nd and Antonio Felix da Costa in 3rd. The race winner got lucky because if Lucas di Grassi doesn't suffer his technical issue ("the engine kept pushing") on lap 21 then Pascal is undercut by Mitch Evans and his teammate (although Nico Mueller would have let him through anyway) and he finishes at best 2nd. Also, for someone who was wary of his rivals trying manipulative tactics, he sure benefitted from having his teammate do his best Season 9 Sebastien Buemi impression. If you are wondering what his defence to this situation it is this: Well, others did it - Jaguar did it in Monaco back in Season 10. Pascal, that is not a defence and certainly not one that will net you any moral high ground as in fact it probably makes you look like a hypocrite. Lucas was not the only retirement this race as Zane Maloney would have his rear-right suspension fail (he suspected driveshaft in the moment) on lap and on lap 38, Pepe Marti makes a move on the inside of Jean-Eric in turn 16, the 2 make contact and both retire in the pits then the stewards would find Pepe at fault and it is their report that I base my description on as we never see it (thanks Tv!). Edoardo Mortara tries to make it 5 retirements as he goes for an optimistic move on Dan Ticktum into turn 1 on lap 37 and pushes the Cupra Kiro driver wide and picks a 5-second time penalty post-race from the stewards and thus finishes behind Dan, who still loses positions as Edoardo's move allows Taylor Barnard to slip past Dan.
The top 6 in the driver's standings under the alternative format, with those in bold still in title contention:

1. Jake Dennis (=0)
2. Pascal Wehrlein (+1)
3. Mitch Evans (-1)
4. Oliver Rowland (=0)
5. Antonio Felix da Costa (=0)
6. Nico Mueller (=0)

All drivers have more points under the alternative format compared to their real life totals, with the one who has the most points compared to real life is Max Guenther, who has 59 more points under the alternative format (82) compared to real life (23). There are differences between the standings and the driver who gains the most position under the alternative format is Taylor Barnard, who gains 5 places under alternative format to be 11th compared to real life standings where he is 16th. The drivers who lose the most positions are Felipe Drugovich and Dan Ticktum who both drops 4 places to be 15th and 16th respectively under the alternative format, but are 11th and 12th respectively in real life. Antonio Felix da Costa, Nico Mueller and Edoardo Mortara are all now mathematically eliminated.
Below are the overall Drivers' Championship standings:

Customer Trophy for Drivers

The class is won Jake Dennis with 2nd in class to Sebastien Buemi, and 3rd in class to Dan Ticktum. Dan leads from the get go until lap 18 as Jake passes him when he takes Attack Mode. Dan retakes the lead a lap later (not sure where as the broadcast doesn't show it), likely on the exit of turn 9. Jake, however, overtakes Dan on lap 30 into turn 1 and heads off to another class win. Felipe Drugovich and Joel Eriksson are mathematically eliminated and all odd-numbered position drivers can only lose 1 position in the standings while all even-numbered position drivers can only gain 1 position.
Below are the Customer Trophy for Drivers standings:

Nelson Piquet Jr Trophy

The winner of the class is Nico Mueller, with 2nd going to Joel Eriksson and 3rd to Felipe Drugovich. Nico leads from the beginning until he pits on lap 17 and hands the lead to Pepe Marti, who leads the class until he pits on lap 25. Nico re-inherits the lead after Pepe's pit stop and goes on to win the class. The top 2 are only drivers who can change their position in the standings but it requires Nico retiring and Felipe winning.
Below are the Nelson Piquet Jr Trophy standings:

Overall Teams' Championship

Jaguar TCS Racing still lead the standings under both formats with Porsche Formula E Team in 2nd and 3rd is Andretti Formula E under both formats. The difference in the standings between the 2 formats as Envision Racing sit 6th under alternative format but while are 7th real life while the reverse is true for Nissan Formula E Team. All teams have more points under the alternative format than they do in real life and the team with biggest difference is DS Penske who have 169 points under the alternative format and 66 in real life.
Below are the overall Teams' Championship standings:

Customer Teams' Championship

Envision need both Andretti Formula E drivers to retire and one of their drivers to win for them to take the title - the same situation Andretti was in last season.
Below are the Customer Teams' Championship standings:

Manufacturers' Cup

Stellantis lead the manufacturer standings under the alternative format with 372 points but are 3rd in real life with 259 as 1st in real life is Porsche with 491 points but they are 2nd under alternative format with 354. Jaguar are 3rd under alternative format and 1 place better in real life. There is no other difference in the standings between the 2 formats, although Jaguar and Porsche do have more points in real life compared to their totals under the alternative format. The biggest gainer in terms of points is Stellantis, whose 372 points under the alternative format is 113 points greater than their real life total of 259.
Below are the Manufacturers' Cup standings: