As the 2024-25 Formula E season reached its halfway point, it felt inevitable that Oliver Rowland would win the drivers’ title with Nissan. He was on a sensational run of form, something that hadn’t been seen in the highly competitive field of drivers in years, and made it look easy as he collected victories, podiums and pole positions.
A penalty for power overuse had denied him a potential first-place finish in the Sao Paulo season-opener, but that didn’t stop him from bouncing back and securing victory in Jeddah, Monaco and Tokyo. There was more silverware for the trophy cabinet too, with two pole positions and three second-place finishes to give him P2 or higher in seven of the first nine races.
Rowland was on another level, and with seven races to go had collected almost double the points of the next guy in the drivers’ standings – 161 points to reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein’s 84. Nobody had ever been that far ahead, and not taken the crown.
However, the stream of success took a turn after some disappointing results across Shanghai and Jakarta, with just 11 total points being added to his tally across the three races. Next was Berlin, and a mathematical chance to wrap up the title.
A rare mistake from Rowland in the first race of the weekend forced him into an early retirement, breaking his steering after making contact with a lapped car. The incident also handed him a five-place grid penalty the following day, all while his biggest threat to the title, Wehrlein, put his Porsche on pole.
Never one to back down from a challenge, Rowland approached the race in his typical elbows-out style and fought his way up the grid while Wehrlein dropped down the field due to poor strategy and little pace. Rowland finished fourth, doing enough to take his first Formula E world championship with two races remaining.
Norman Nato and Sergio Sette Camara – who stood in for the Frenchman in Berlin – could only muster four points finishes between them and Nissan was third in both the teams’ and manufacturers’ table, underlining Rowland’s efforts.
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