The series has equality: one male and one female driver sharing the duties by driving one lap each with equal machinery – the battery-powered Odyssey 21 ‘SUV’, which delivers 550 brake horsepower through two motors, and goes from 0-100km/h in 4.5 seconds.
Comparing each man and woman across nine teams after one race will never be an exact science – there are so many variables at stake, such as car reliability, changeable track conditions and differing levels of experience from other areas of motorsport.
In Saudi Arabia, roughly two-thirds of the overall lap times were driven faster by men. But this doesn’t really take into account the variables.
A summary of the three split times across every lap in all six sessions helps to tell us women are very much a match for their male counterparts.
Those worth a mention include Christine Giampaoli Zonca of Italy for the Hispano Suiza team, often beating Britain’s Oliver Bennett across split times in probably the tightest battle between team-mates all weekend.
And Britain’s Catie Munnings of Andretti United recorded better split times across the final than her team-mate Timmy Hansen, despite the Swede having the upper hand in earlier sessions.
Munnings also kept the team in the hunt for the final after nursing the car home with a puncture during qualifying.
“Extreme E offers an amazing platform for female drivers,” said Munnings after the final race. “It’s super cool to be racing against such fast girls.
“It’s been really nice to see everyone coming together, encouraging each other and creating a competitive environment, and all of us – men and women alike – have been learning on the job and having a great time while doing it.”