2022 might have been a difficult year for Lewis Hamilton as a driver, but at least the seven-time F1 World Champion can still add a trophy to his collection as a team owner.
X44 Vida Carbon Racing‘s Cristina Gutiérrez and Sébastien Loeb finished third in Sunday’s Energy X Prix Final to secure their first Extreme E championship, taking advantage of a disastrous weekend for rival Rosberg X Racing. RXR, the defending champion and run by Hamilton’s former F1 team-mate Nico Rosberg, dominated the 2022 season but were set back by multiple errors and penalties before a disqualification in the Energy X Prix’s Crazy Race sidelined them for the Final.
The Rosberg team could only watch as Hamilton’s outfit needed a podium to take the championship for themselves. Amidst a cloud of dust, Loeb and Gutiérrez struggled to keep pace in their backup car, a predicament that developed after Gutiérrez rolled in qualifying, with the leaders ABT CUPRA XE, McLaren XE, Andretti United XE, and Veloce Racing. Matters finally improved when Veloce received a five-second penalty for Kevin Hansen hitting a waypoint flag followed by a seven-second addition to Andretti for speeding in the switch area. Gutiérrez was able to close the gap to Andretti’s Catie Munnings just enough that the penalty would swing in X44’s favour and promote the team to third.
“I am so blown away by this come back after such a difficult day yesterday,” Hamilton posted on social media. “The team rebuilding, staying positing and coming out fighting. Wow, I’m so proud of the team and these two amazing drivers.”
X44 ends the season with 86 points, just two ahead of RXR, with a win at the Copper X Prix. It was a reversal of 2021 when RXR claimed the championship via tiebreaker.
“A devastating end to our Championship dreams. But second place is still something to be proud of,” reads an RXR statement. “A massive congratulations to X44, who take the win, our world-class drivers Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky & Johan Kristoffersson who gave it their all the entire season, our team of mechanics and engineers who defied the odds by getting our car back up and running, our partners who share our vision for a more sustainable future, the team behind-the-scenes, and of course… our incredible fans. We will be back!”
Besides X44’s title, the others in the top three enjoyed firsts of their own as ABT CUPRA notched their maiden victory while McLaren is finally a podium finisher. The result also means the two highest overall finishers of the 2022 Dakar Rally and World Rally-Raid Championship‘s T1 class—ABT CUPRA’s Nasser Al-Attiyah and Loeb—end the season with podiums a month before returning for the 2023 edition; Gutiérrez also placed on the Dakar podium in the T3 category.
“It was a very tough weekend for us, especially after my roll yesterday. The team did a crazy job with the car and Qualifying #2 was the first time we had driven it,” said Gutiérrez. “As for the Final, on the radio they told me someone was going to be penalised but still I didn’t know. I wanted to be sure that we won so I did not celebrate before it was official. It was a rollercoaster, but it is much better than that for us as we can now believe in what we have achieved.”
Loeb adds another title to his decorated racing career that has included nine World Rally Cahmpionships.
“We could only go and compete with everything we had and try to score maximum points,” commented Loeb. “In the Final, it was a critical moment because I was fourth and we needed to be third. We had some contact here and there, but there was nothing I could do to overtake. Cristina did a great job to stay very close to the car in front and we knew potentially we were third. At the end it was what we needed so I’m really relieved to be here and really proud to win this championship.”
As Al-Attiyah’s team-mate, Klara Andersson won in just her second career Extreme E start. In placing third, Emma Gilmour became the first female podium finisher for McLaren Racing across all of their motorsport divisions.
Race results
| Finish | Number | Team | Total Time | Driver #1 | Driver #2 |
| 1 | 125 | ABT CUPRA XE | 10:26.537 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Klara Andersson |
| 2 | 58 | McLaren XE | 10:29.964 | Tanner Foust | Emma Gilmour |
| 3 | 44 | X44 Vida Carbon Racing | 10:37.004* | Sébastien Loeb | Cristina Gutiérrez |
| 4 | 23 | Andretti United XE | 10:35.566* | Timmy Hansen | Catie Munnings |
| 5 | 5 | Veloce Racing | 10:41.631* | Kevin Hansen | Molly Taylor |
Final points standings
Teams Championship
| Rank | Team | Total Points | Final Wins | Podiums | Continental Traction Challenges |
| 1 | X44 Vida Carbon Racing | 86 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| 2 | Rosberg X Racing | 84 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| 3 | ACCIONA | Sainz XE Team | 66 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | Chip Ganassi Racing | 63 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | McLaren XE | 52 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | ABT CUPRA XE | 46 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 7 | Andretti United XE | 45 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 8 | XITE Energy Racing | 33 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 9 | JBXE | 27 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 10 | Veloce Racing | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Drivers Championship
| Rank | Driver | Team(s) | Final Points | Points Earned |
| 1 | Cristina Gutiérrez | X44 Vida Carbon Racing | 73 | 81 |
| 1 | Sébastien Loeb | X44 Vida Carbon Racing | 73 | 81 |
| 2 | Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky | Rosberg X Racing | 68 | 69 |
| 2 | Johan Kristoffersson | Rosberg X Racing | 68 | 69 |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz | ACCIONA | Sainz XE Team | 60 | 66 |
| 3 | Laia Sanz | ACCIONA | Sainz XE Team | 60 | 66 |
| 4 | Sara Price | Chip Ganassi Racing | 57 | 63 |
| 5 | Kyle LeDuc | Chip Ganassi Racing | 55 | 55 |
| 6 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | ABT CUPRA XE | 46 | 46 |
| 6 | Emma Gilmour | McLaren XE | 46 | 47 |
| 6 | Tanner Foust | McLaren XE | 46 | 47 |
| 7 | Klara Andersson | ABT CUPRA XE | 40 | 40 |
| 8 | Catie Munnings | Andretti United XE | 39 | 45 |
| 8 | Timmy Hansen | Andretti United XE | 39 | 45 |
| 9 | Kevin Hansen | JBXE, Veloce Racing | 33 | 35 |
| 10 | Tamara Molinaro | XITE Energy Racing | 32 | 33 |
| 11 | Hedda Hosås | Veloce Racing, JBXE | 25 | 26 |
| 12 | Timo Scheider | XITE Energy Racing | 21 | 21 |
| 13 | Molly Taylor | JBXE, Veloce Racing | 12 | 12 |
| 14 | Oliver Bennett | XITE Energy Racing | 8 | 8 |
| 14 | RJ Anderson | Chip Ganassi Racing | 8 | 8 |
| 14 | Lance Woolridge | Veloce Racing | 8 | 8 |
| 15 | Christine GZ | Veloce Racing | 7 | 7 |
| 16 | Jutta Kleinschmidt | ABT CUPRA XE | 6 | 6 |
| 17 | Ezequiel Pérez Companc | XITE Energy Racing | 4 | 4 |
| 18 | Fraser McConnell | JBXE | 2 | 2 |
