Mitch Evans 'confused' as key discovery needed in Formula E title hunt

Mitch Evans has revealed it is "confusing" why he is struggling so much in qualifying, insisting it needs to be solved to fight for a maiden Formula E drivers' title.

The New Zealander qualified poorly in the German capital but scored big points, capitalising on the typical pack racing seen at the Tempelhof Airport Circuit.

He qualified 14th for the first race and 17th for the second, before going on to finish sixth and first, respectively.

It has moved him to just three points adrift of Pascal Wehrlein in the title fight, something Evans firmly has his eyes on after it was confirmed he will be leaving Jaguar at the end of the season.

However, not all of the remaining nine races will follow the pack racing style, with the 31-year-old knowing that at the likes of Sanya, Tokyo and London, qualifying and track position will be crucial.

Discussing his win, Evans told RacingNews365: "Yeah, very happy. Another big chunk of points at a really critical part of the championship. 

"But yeah, in the back of my mind, I still know that I need to work out what's going on with qualifying. I think I've got the most duel appearances in Formula E. 

"But right now, trying to get there seems like a massive task. So yeah, I'm sure it's something — we just need to find out what's going on, because there will be tracks where I need track position."

Evans' bizarre qualifying struggles

Qualifying struggles have previously been unheard of for Evans, who in the past has been renowned as one of the strongest qualifiers on the grid.

Since the duels qualifying format was introduced in the final Gen2 campaign in 2022, Evans has made 36 duel appearances. Crucially, only one of those has come this year.

He has faced immense difficulties getting his Jaguar to work over a single lap, something which has come as a surprise to him, given it had been one of, if not his biggest strength.

Understanding what is going wrong and fixing it is pivotal to Evans' title hopes, something he is fully aware of.

Asked if solving his qualifying issues is the difference between fighting for the title and not, Evans replied: "I think so. To win a championship, you need to be strong everywhere. And this is what's confusing for me — this is normally a big strength of mine.

"But no, I'm very realistic when it comes to it and very open to the fact that you need good one-lap pace, regardless of these races, because for certain tracks, when it matters, you know you need to be there.

"So once you've got pace, things become easier as well. When you don't, you've got to improvise a lot, like we're doing at the moment in Jarama and Berlin, and it's paying off because I've got an amazing strategy team and I can read the race as well — but it doesn't always pay off like that."