Oliver Rowland claimed his third victory of the 2024/25 Formula E campaign around the iconic streets of Monaco, managing a strategy masterclass from himself and Nissan after starting second.
Although on paper it might have looked a somewhat easy conversion, the reality was a little more complex with some questionable moves from Taylor Barnard (McLaren) ahead, a very different Attack Mode strategy to those around him and suspicious noises and warning lights appearing on his car from the formation lap.
Rowland started Saturday’s Miami E-Prix – the first of two races around the principality this weekend – in second, after a rare mistake during the final stages of the qualifying duels. The Yorkshireman was going up against Barnard, his former karting protege, in the last head-to-head battle to decide pole position.
However, seeing Barnard’s speeds in the prior duels, Rowland knew he needed to deliver an extra special lap to beat the 20-year-old. What followed was a costly mistake as he approached the first corner with too much momentum, whacking his Nissan into the barriers ahead of the climb to Beau Rivage and immediately ruling himself out of the running for pole.
Able to limp back to the pits, Rowland had his car worked on intensely by the Nissan team in the few hours before lights out and was given the ok to start the race. But, on the way to the grid, he was sure something wasn’t right, and radioed the team with his concerns.
“When I set off to the grid I heard a strange noise, like a whining noise on the back,” Rowland explained after the chequered flag. “Obviously I crashed in qualifying, so I reported it and they basically told me, ‘I think you're hearing things’, and I thought… maybe I am?
“But then I noticed it straight away. Even whilst I was driving, I could hear some strange noises in the back. Then after about 10 laps, I had a gearbox temperature alarm.
“In the beginning, it was just like flashing on and off, and then at the end it was fully on. So I clearly had some sort of issue that was probably due to my qualifying crash.”
Rowland was clear the issues with the car didn’t impact his racing, but was keen to see the analysis and understand the problem ahead of Sunday's contest.
In between his stress with the Nissan, he was also facing another battle on-track: passing Barnard. The McLaren driver managed to keep the lead for just under the first third of the race, until Rowland tried an ambitious overtake on Lap 11 at the entry to the Swimming Pool.
Rowland was just ahead at the entry of the complex, but Barnard bailed and found himself going off the track and over the kerbing. The McLaren retained the lead, and was challenged again by Rowland the following lap out of the tunnel. In a similar situation, Barnard ended up going off track and maintaining his advantage, but moments later made way for Rowland who claimed first by Lap 12 at Tabac.
“Honestly, I don't want to say anything bad about anybody, but for me, I was fully up on the inside. It was my corner, and he released the brakes and cut the chicane twice," said Rowland.
“I would be interested to hear what view [the FIA] take on it, just so we can learn for the future.
“It felt like the move was done on my side. If that is the case, then we can just let off the brakes and cut the chicanes, which for me, I was far enough up the inside for it to be my corner both times. I wasted quite a lot of energy to do that.
“Then the second thing is I didn't think you could pass on the five second countdown before a Full Course Yellow [flag], but clearly you can.”
The race saw two significant FCYs for incidents that included a crash at the final corner for Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa, and another after Mitch Evans suffered a cut to the powertrain of his Jaguar on Lap 14. He was able to get going again, but finished in 20th which is a very different result to his victory here one year ago.
Speaking about the heavy use of Full Course Yellows over opting for a Safety Car, Nyck de Vries told Autosport that he liked the option “much better”.
As those around him took Attack Mode, Rowland and the team opted for a late strategy with the second activation leaving the Nissan pilot down in fifth with five laps to go.
“Honestly, I was really angry,” the race winner added when addressing the late Attack Mode activation to those around him.
“I don't know if you were listening to my radio, but I was pretty stressed out. At that point. I was shouting at my engineer because I wanted to go two laps or a lap before, as I wouldn't have lost a position. But then I ended up dropping back to fifth.
“I think at the time, I had two Andrettis and two Mahindras ahead, so I was like ‘oh, they might play the game to slow me down and let them get ahead’. But luckily, I managed to make quite quick work of them. I was a bit worried that I wasn't going to be able to pass with the 350kW and the high targets. But in the end, it was okay.”
With four laps and an added lap to go, Rowland and his remaining Attack Mode were on a mission. The first driver pipped off was the Mahindra Racing of Edoardo Mortara, who would eventually just miss out on a podium to finish fourth. Then was the turn of Nico Mueller for Andretti, both passed in a matter of corners. Next up was Jake Dennis, and with the help of the all-wheel drive and extra 50kW, Rowland soared past him up Beau Rivage and into second.
De Vries was the final target, and within the same lap as his move on Dennis, Rowland snatched the victory from Mahindra and the 2021 champion at the exit of the tunnel. At the time of the move, Rowland was also up on energy to the other two eventual podium finishers of de Vries and Dennis, in addition to just under two minutes of Attack Mode.
He kept his cool up ahead to finish with a two-second gap, having now won half of the six races so far this season and extended his championship lead to 94 points with reigning world champion Pascal Wehrlein second on 60.
