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Formula E is back with a bang.

Season five of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship kicked off in Ad Diriyah today and saw a dream debut for a new manufacturer, a first E-Prix title in five years and the first wet session after 45 uninterrupted sunny races.

Here are Mirror Sport’s Talking Points from Race 1.

BMW make dream debut with da Costa

During pre-season testing in Valencia BMW surprised some by looking the fastest despite being new manufacturers. They proved this was no fluke as Antonio Felix da Costa won the opening E-Prix of the season – his first win in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship since Buenos Aires in Season 1.

While we saw a new car, a new location and a new race format, the Season 5 opener just as

incident-packed as ever with crashes, overtakes, wheel-to-wheel battles and some very unexpected rain causing chaos in the desert.

The Portuguese driver made it the perfect debut for the BMW i Andretti Motorsport and was

followed in second by reigning champion Jean-Eric Vergne and new Mahindra Racing driver Jerome D’Ambrosio following his switch from GEOX DRAGON.

(Image: Getty Images)

Desert rain causes chaos

After four seasons and 45 races without wet conditions it took a race in the desert for the series to feel the impact of rain for the first time which caused both free practice sessions to be cancelled and qualifying to be heavily impacted.

With a new car to get to grips with, the teams could have done with all the track time they could manage but with the unexpectedly heavy rain causing sodden conditions Qualifying was delayed and reworked into two sessions.

Conditions were still incredibly difficult and when veteran Felix Rosenqvist crashed into the wall to bring out a red flag it brought an end to what might be the most difficult qualifying session all year.

These effects were felt throughout the day as eight separate drivers including Vergne and debuting Felipe Massa were given technical penalties, usually ironed out in Free Practice, across qualifying and the race.

(Image: Getty Images)

The Champ sets the standard

Despite a new car, a new location, a new race format and new faces across the grid, reigning champ Jean-Eric Vergne showed that some things do stay the same as the Frenchman looked imperious – only a drive-through penalty denying him first place.

The 28-year-old picked up from where he left off in Season 4 and looked as cool, calm and collected as ever in the Gen2 vehicle to quickly move up from starting in fifth to take first place from Da Costa half-way through the race.

He, along with teammate Andre Lotterer, was given a drive-through penalty not long later to move him down the grid but with the help of Attack Mode’s speed boost he managed to claw back to second place.

With teammate Lotterer looking good and finishing fifth – the combination of last year’s customer Techeetah team with DS Automobiles look like they could be the men to beat in Season 5.

(Image: Getty Images)

Rookie Massa in a new world

After 16 years in Formula One, Felipe Massa has seen it all – but he admitted before the race that this experience counted for nothing with a racing series as different to any other as Formula E. And this proved prophetic.

The Brazilian had started the race well, showing all his guile with some very cheeky overtakes to be securely in the points scoring positions. However, the lack of track time earlier worked against him as he was punished with penalties twice for misuse of FAN BOOST to finish 17th.

It was a tough day for both the new faces from Formula One as Stoffel Vandoorne, despite topping the early Free Practice 1 before its cancellation and staring in fourth, slipped to 16 th as his HWA Racelab team also suffered technical issues with the car.

(Image: Getty Images)

Attack Mode makes early impact

With the Gen2’s flashing blue halo when activated, there was never any danger of Attack Mode

failing to grab attention.

But the new strategical aspect to Formula E caught the eye for reasons other than pure aesthetics as drivers both benefitted and were hindered by the drive-through zone off the racing line which gives a short speed boost.

While driver like Lotterer and Daniel Abt used it to breeze past opponents GEOX DRAGON’s Jose Maria Lopez missed the zone twice attempting to boost up, losing places, and ended up crashing shortly after.

This unique mode to motor racing will be worth keeping an eye on throughout the season.