My last article in 2022 saw me make my Predictions for Season 9 of ABB FIA Formula E. Since then, I’ve gone on to write Race Reviews for all 16 Rounds on Prescott Motorsport and it’s been a lot of fun. However, it’s now time for me to react to my Predictions and I cannot wait for this. If you like rubbish predictions, you’ll absolutely love this article (or any article of mine where I react to my Predictions)!
P22: Norman Nato
This is a great start as Norman Nato finished 10th in the Championship with 1 Podium to his name (P2 in the second Rome E-Prix). I was expecting Nissan to be rubbish this season, but they exceeded my expectations massively, and fair play to Norman because he had a really impressive last 6 rounds.
P21: Sacha Fenestraz
Sacha Fenestraz actually finished 16th in the Championship, but whether he did better than I expected is hard to say. I put Fenestraz so low down because I didn’t expect anything from Nissan this year, but I did expect Fenestraz to beat his teammate so it’s fair to say that this Prediction wasn’t very good.
P20: Dan Ticktum
Dan Ticktum and NIO 333 also exceeded my expectations a bit this year as Dan ended up finishing 17th in the Championship. Dan also beat his teammate (which is always a good thing) so this wasn’t the greatest prediction.
P19: Sergio Sette Camara
Sergio Sette Camara becomes the first driver that finished lower in the Championship Standings than I predicted as Sergio only finished 20th. It wasn’t a particularly great season for Sette Camara and only 2 points finishes kind of proves that.
P18: Nico Muller
I had Nico Muller to finish 18th in the Standings and he ended up finishing 19th. However, I was actually quite impressed with Nico as ABT CUPRA were a lot slower than I expected and he beat his way more experienced teammate which is pretty good going.
P17: Sebastien Buemi
This is probably my worst prediction yet as Sebastien Buemi ended up finishing 6th in the Drivers’ Championship. I expected Sebastien’s poor form to continue, but that didn’t happen as he achieved 1 Podium and 2 Poles over the course of Season 9.
P16: Oliver Rowland
Oliver Rowland did not have a very good season as he was dropped after just 9 rounds and ended up finishing 21st in the Championship. There’s really not much more to add.
P15: Nick Cassidy
Oh God! Nick Cassidy ended up finishing as the Runner-Up in this year’s ABB FIA Formula E World Championship where he achieved 8 Podiums including 4 E-Prix victories. The reason I had Nick so low down was because I expected Envision Racing to struggle, yet that didn’t happen as they ended the season as the Teams’ Champions! One day I’ll get good at this!
P14: Sam Bird
Whilst I was wrong with this Prediction in the sense that Sam Bird finished 8th in the Standings, it’s worth mentioning that I did say that it could potentially be his last season in Formula E and he’s currently without a drive for Season 10 after Jaguar TCS Racing decided to get rid of him.
P13: Rene Rast
I feel very happy now as Rene Rast did finish 13th in this year’s Drivers’ Championship. I didn’t really think NEOM McLaren were going to be particularly amazing this season and that very much came true as Rast was only able to score 1 Podium finish.
P12: Jake Hughes
Well whatever happens, at least I’ll know that I can predict McLaren well (in any category) as Jake Hughes did finish 1 place ahead of his teammate in 12th! Jake can actually be pretty happy with his season overall, even though the end of it wasn’t particularly good.
P11: Pascal Wehrlein
Pascal ended up finishing 4th in this year’s Championship so I definitely got this one wrong. What I find really impressive with Pascal is he only failed to finish in the points once this season (DNF in Cape Town), but he also only had 1 Top 5 finish after that race (P1 in Jakarta) which wasn’t good enough considering Wehrlein was leading the Championship early on in the campaign.
P10: Maximilian Gunther
This was a weird (and wrong) prediction as Maserati MSG’s car was slower than I expected, yet Max Gunther finished 7th in the Championship. That’s really down to Gunther’s amazing pace which has really impressed me and he definitely warrants his 4 Podiums in 2023.
P9: Lucas di Grassi
This was not a particularly good year for either Mahindra or Lucas di Grassi as the Brazilian only finished 15th in the Championship. What’s even crazier is the fact that di Grassi scored more points in the opening Round of the Season (18) than he did for the remainder of Season 9 (14).
P8: Robin Frijns
And I’m back to making rubbish Predictions! I expected Robin and ABT CUPRA to be pretty decent this year, yet neither of those things happened as Robin finished 22nd in the Championship! Breaking his wrists in the season opener in Mexico City didn’t help, but he still didn’t show any signs of pace and I can’t see him being on the Formula E grid next year.
P7: Antonio Felix da Costa
Antonio Felix da Costa ended up finishing 9th in the Championship so I was a bit off with this. However, I was quite a bit off with this Prediction if you consider that Porsche’s car was faster than I expected and the fact that da Costa got beaten by his teammate.
P6: Andre Lotterer
This was not a good prediction at all. I said that Andre Lotterer would have his best season in Formula E yet, yet he ended up having arguably his worst as he finished 18th in the Drivers’ Standings. What’s even worse is after Round 7, Lotterer’s highest finish was only 13th!
P5: Jake Dennis
I expected Jake Dennis to be quick this year and win races, but I didn’t expect him to win the Championship and get 11 Podiums in the process! Jake has been incredible this season and fully merits being called World Champion and I will say that I only had him in 5th because I didn’t expect Avalanche Andretti’s car to be quite good enough to fight for the title.
P4: Jean-Eric Vergne
I expected Jean-Eric Vergne to finish 4th and he ended up finishing 5th so I wasn’t too far out. However, I did label him as a Championship Contender and the fact that he finished 122pts behind Jake Dennis proves that I was very wrong.
P3: Stoffel Vandoorne
I had high hopes for Stoffel Vandoorne entering Season 9 due to the fact that he was the reigning FE World Champion. However, that didn’t come to fruition at all as Stoffel only finished 11th in the Standings and he didn’t even appear on the Podium once. It’s worth mentioning that I said that DS Penske would win the Teams’ Championship and that very much didn’t happen as they only finished 5th!
P2: Mitch Evans
I said Mitch would once again finish second in the Championship, and he ended up finishing 3rd, just 2 points away from 2nd so I don’t feel like I did too bad. Mitch is a fantastic Driver and he feels like probably the only guy (as well as Jake Dennis) that could fight for the Championship every season.
P1: Edoardo Mortara
And finally, I predicted Edoardo Mortara to become the new ABB FIA Formula E World Champion in Season 9, and he ended up finishing 14th! I feel like I should probably retire at this point because Edo was really poor this season and he didn’t even finish on the Podium once! Head in Hands Emoji indeed!
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