Pascal Wehrlein looked as though he had taken his maiden ABB FIA Formula E World Championship victory on Saturday in the first race of the Puebla E-Prix, but a disqualification for a technical infringement saw the German lose the win to Lucas di Grassi.
Having taken pole position earlier in the day, Wehrlein had controlled the race from the front, only for the stewards to investigate his Tag Heuer Porsche Formula E Team for not declaring his tyres prior to the race. The same issue befell the second Porsche of André Lotterer and the two Nissan e.dams of Oliver Rowland and Sébastien Buemi.
Wehrlein had kept the lead at the start as fellow front-row starter Rowland was very slow away, with the Briton dropping down the order to fourteenth. Maximilian Günther made a superb start to jump from fifth on the grid to run second.
The safety car was needed when Nick Cassidy hit the wall at turn two and broke his suspension, and it was needed again when Sam Bird retired with damage after being pushed into the wall by Alex Lynn. The contact was caused as Bird emerged from activating attack mode, he drove into the path of Lynn, who was unable to avoid contact with the Jaguar Racing driver.
Wehrlein kept the lead with ease on both restarts, while di Grassi was beginning to make his move, as was his Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler team-mate René Rast. Di Grassi passed Mahindra Racing’s Alexander Sims and then Jaguar’s Mitch Evans, while a slowing Günther offered no real resistance to enable the Brazilian move up to the back of Edoardo Mortara.
Di Grassi was able to move up to second by passing Mortara into turn one, and when Wehrlein was disqualified, the Brazilian was able to capitalise and secure his first victory of the season.
Behind him came team-mate Rast, who was equally spectacular as he moved up the order to claim his maiden Formula E podium, with Mortara dropping down to fourth at the chequered flag, which became third once Wehrlein was removed from the results.
Sims took fourth for Mahindra ahead of BMW i Andretti Motorsport’s Jake Dennis, with sixth going the way of DS Techeetah’s António Félix da Costa. It could, and possible should have been better for the reigning champion, but he was delayed attempting to pass Günther and was left with too much to do to better sixth.
After a disappointing Qualifying earlier in the day, Stoffel Vandoorne was able to score a seventh place finish for the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team, with team-mate Nyck de Vries taking ninth. The Dutchman survived contact with championship leader Robin Frijns that earned the Envision Virgin Racing driver a ten-second time penalty.
Evans ended up in eighth, while Lynn took the final point on offer in tenth despite the Mahindra Racing driver’s clash with Bird earlier.
Günther was running up front early on but overheating tyres saw him drop like a stone through the field, with the second BMW driver ending twelfth behind NIO 333 FE Team’s Oliver Turvey.
Puebla E-Prix Race 1 Result
| POS. | NO. | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME/GAP |
| 1 | 11 | Lucas di Grassi | BRZ | Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler | 28 Laps |
| 2 | 33 | Rene Rast | GER | Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler | +0.497 |
| 3 | 48 | Edoardo Mortara | CHE | ROKIT Venturi Racing | +2.774 |
| 4 | 29 | Alexander Sims | GBR | Mahindra Racing | +10.443 |
| 5 | 27 | Jake Dennis | GBR | BMW i Andretti Motorsport | +11.473 |
| 6 | 13 | Antonio Felix da Costa | POR | DS Techeetah | +11.624 |
| 7 | 5 | Stoffel Vandoorne | BEL | Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team | +12.022 |
| 8 | 20 | Mitch Evans | NZL | Jaguar Racing | +12.351 |
| 9 | 17 | Nyck de Vries | NED | Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team | +12.936 |
| 10 | 94 | Alex Lynn | GBR | Mahindra Racing | +13.154 |
| 11 | 8 | Oliver Turvey | GBR | NIO 333 FE Team | +14.548 |
| 12 | 28 | Maximilian Gunther | GER | BMW i Andretti Motorsport | +15.257 |
| 13 | 88 | Tom Blomqvist | GBR | NIO 333 FE Team | +15.442 |
| 14 | 71 | Norman Nato | FRA | ROKIT Venturi Racing | +15.756 |
| 15 | 7 | Sergio Sette Camara | BRZ | Dragon/Penske Autosport | +16.971 |
| 16 | 4 | Robin Frijns | NED | Envision Virgin Racing | +17.942 |
| 17 | 6 | Joel Eriksson | SWE | Dragon/Penske Autosport | +18.285 |
| RET | 10 | Sam Bird | GBR | Jaguar Racing | Retired |
| RET | 25 | Jean-Eric Vergne | FRA | DS Techeetah | Retired |
| RET | 37 | Nick Cassidy | NZL | Envision Virgin Racing | Retired |
| DQ | 99 | Pascal Wehrlein | GER | TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team | Disqualified |
| DQ | 36 | Andre Lotterer | GER | TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team | Disqualified |
| DQ | 23 | Sebastien Buemi | CHE | Nissan e.DAMS | Disqualified |
| DQ | 22 | Oliver Rowland | GBR | Nissan e.DAMS | Disqualified |
