Rowland secures consecutive wins on historic Formula E weekend for British drivers

Oliver Rowland claimed his second Formula E 2025 win in the second of two races at the championship’s debut outing at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia.

For the first time in Formula E’s 11-year history, British drivers locked out the top four positions, with McLaren rookie Taylor Barnard in second, Maserati’s Jake Hughes in third, and Andretti’s Jake Dennis in fourth.

In the second race of the weekend, Barnard started from pole but for the rest of the field, things proved to be somewhat of a demolition derby.

Antonio Felix da Costa who came into the weekend as championship leader was taken out at Turn 4 by Maximilian Gunther, who won the first race in Saudi on Friday night. Both drivers DNF’d on the spot.

Lucas di Grassi was the first driver to activate Attack Mode. The 2016-2017 title winner made his way through the field and attacked Barnard for the race lead.

By lap 16, most of the field had used their Attack Mode, and like in Mexico City where he scored his first win of 2025, it was Rowland who capitalised the most and passed Barnard for the lead and immediately eked out a two second advantage.

A lap later, the McLaren man returned the favour and overtook Rowland, where the two drivers would duke it out for honours until the end of the race.

Ultimately, the Nissan driver would prevail and take his second win of 2025 and with it, the championship lead on 68 points to Barnard’s 51.

The Saudi Arabia weekend was also the debut for Formula E’s Pit Boost system, which allows for drivers to take to the pit lane for a quick ‘splash and dash’ recharge. In the aftermath of the race, Pit Boost appeared to divide teams and drivers.

Rowland told The Race that he “had no idea” about what was happening. Meanwhile, Andretti team boss, Roger Griffiths, explained that “it was really hard to know what the true running order was and where you were going to ultimately end up.”

The next round of the Formula E season will take place over the weekend of 11-12 April, 2025 in Miami.