Oliver Rowland wins Formula E title with nerves of steel

Oliver Rowland Formula E 13/7/25

A foregone conclusion? Perhaps, in the wake of Oliver Rowland’s remarkable sprint this term to four wins and three second places from the first nine Formula E races. But at the Berlin double-header, the 32-year-old Barnsley-born racer still managed to create some melodrama before Nissan could proclaim its new world champion.

Rowland went from zero to hero in the German capital. In a wet first race on the Saturday, he clattered clumsily into the Maserati of Stoffel Vandoorne in a passing move best labelled ‘optimistic’ – and fully deserved the five-place grid penalty handed down to him for the second, run in the dry the following day.

Title rival and reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein finished second in race one and took pole position for race two to keep his faint title chances alive. But such was Rowland’s points lead, he still only needed fourth place if Porsche’s Wehrlein didn’t score to seal a cherished world title, before the electric-powered series’ traditional double-header climax at London’s Excel arena. And that’s what happened. Except it was a lot more chaotic than that sounds. Rowland didn’t exactly play it safe.

An audacious dive on lap nine to pass both Nico Müller and David Beckmann in one corner, then later picking off first António Félix da Costa, then in one fell swoop race one winner Mitch Evans and Robin Frijns at the final turn to sensationally take the lead were Rowland’s less-than-conservative race highlights.

In the closing stages, he’d been shuffled back to fourth when McLaren’s Taylor Barnard gently nudged him up the back. But crucially, Wehrlein had faded badly to 16th – and the title was won. “I was trying to play safe,” said Rowland after hearing his title confirmed by his young daughter over the team radio, “but everybody was really aggressive so at some point I was all in, I was getting stuck in doing the moves.”

Having switched to Formula E in 2018 after development driver spells in Formula 1 with Renault and Williams, his commitment to one of the most competitive race series on the planet is now fully vindicated.

Driver briefing notes

Jota halts Ferrari, while Solberg’s on-song in WRC

• Ferrari’s unbeaten spell in the World Endurance Championship is over. In the Sao Paolo 6 Hours, Jota delivered Cadillac its first win at this level as Alex Lynn, Will Stevens and Norman Nato headed a 1-2. The Le Mans-winning AF Corse Ferrari was the best of the 499Ps in eighth after a Balance of Performance tug back.
• Romain Dumas scooped his fourth Goodwood Festival of Speed shootout win, making the 1.16-mile climb in 43.22sec in Ford’s Supertruck. But forget fast times. Seven F1 world champions turned out, with Alain Prost’s reunion with a 1988 McLaren-Honda MP4/4 our personal best bit.
  
• Oliver Solberg stunned the World Rally Championship in a one-off Rally1 appearance for Toyota by scoring a dominant win on Rally Estonia. Alongside Elliott Edmondson, the son of 2003 WRC king Petter Solberg topped nine stages in his first rally in the WRC’s top tier since 2022.