The Formula E team at risk of remarkable Lola embarrassment

Lucas di Grassi's heroic and emotional victory in the second race of Formula E's Shanghai double-header has made Lola Yamaha ABT believe in something that almost everyone viewed as impossible: avoiding last place in the teams' championship.

Lola and its drivers are the first to accept that they have the weakest package on the grid, and by a comfortable margin, with di Grassi and Zane Maloney often driving beyond the limit to extract either duel appearances or points finishes.

Entering Formula E midway through the Gen3 era was always going to be one of the toughest challenges imaginable, but it is one Lola has never complained about, instead simply getting on with the job.

What happened in Shanghai was not down to luck but strategic brilliance, with the team gambling on fitting di Grassi's car with dry tyre pressures in anticipation that a dry line would emerge on an otherwise wet circuit.

It was the ultimate fairytale and one of, if not the most famous and unexpected, victories in Formula E history. Di Grassi's win also proved something once again: absolutely anything is possible in the all-electric series.

With four rounds remaining, two in Tokyo and two in London, more extraordinary scenes cannot be ruled out, especially if the weather plays a role. There is every chance Lola could produce another hugely unexpected result and, with it, score a significant haul of points.

Prior to di Grassi's victory, Lola finishing last in the championship looked almost inevitable. Now, nothing can be ruled out, which also leaves DS Penske at risk of major embarrassment.

Lola up for DS Penske pursuit

It has been a shocking season for DS Penske in what is its final campaign as a duo, with DS Automobiles exiting the championship after the London finale.

For a team that claimed two victories last year, 2026 has been a complete disaster. Taylor Barnard and Maximilian Günther have given it everything, but Stellantis' package has fallen well short of expectations, with energy management proving its biggest weakness.

Despite all its difficulties, a team of DS Penske's stature should not be sitting ninth in the standings, let alone facing the mathematical possibility of finishing last. It sits 66 points behind fellow Stellantis outfit Citroën and 37 adrift of Cupra Kiro in eighth.

Behind them, Lola is just 15 points back. With four Formula E races remaining and chaos always a possibility, that deficit is entirely recoverable, and the retiring di Grassi knows it, especially after the added belief that came with becoming a race winner once again in Formula E.

"Well, if it's mathematically possible, then it's possible, right?" di Grassi told RacingNews365 during an interview.

"So the chances are low, but it's possible. And I told my engineer, 'Look, we're going to continue working as if nothing has happened. We're going to keep pushing for this. This isn't a closed chapter. We're still going to push.

"We have four races left, two of which feature Pit Boost. Then you could end up in a scenario where you pit before a safety car, or it starts to dry, or it rains, or something happens, and you're in the right window at the right time.

"So we're going to keep pushing, we're going to take risks, and we're going to try to outsmart the competition. We know that, in a fair fight, it's very hard for us.

"I have to outperform the competition by such a big margin that it's extremely difficult, but we're going to keep pushing, and we're going to take risks. That's what we need to do."