A day to remember for Porsche and Wehrlein!
We got our third different winner in as many races, thanks to a thrilling race around the Hermanos Rodriguez Circuit, which saw many drivers come and go during the race, as a result of uncertainty over how many laps there would be, which left some teams empty handed at the end of the race!
Porsche and Mercedes joined Formula E at the same time, and despite the odd, good showing from the VW brand, they were overshadowed by the might of Mercedes, who instantly were close to winning pace. Now, however, Porsche is really starting to flex their muscles, and show their racing pedigree. They were seen as an underdog coming into the season, and it could be a fairy tale story! Talking of feel good stories, it was only right that Wehrlein should take his first win in Formula E, at the track where he experienced the ultimate heartbreak a few years ago. He stepped up this weekend, after being outperformed by Lotterer in Saudi, and this win may only make him stronger going forwards. To be fair, Porsche nailed the strategy too, as they foresaw the race going a lap further before anyone else! Andre wasn’t slow either though, and possibly could have won if it wasn’t for team orders, it really could be a battle of the German giants this year!
I was right about being wrong if that makes any sense, as Techeetah were able to step up after barely scoring points in the first two races. They were on it all weekend, didn’t quite have the pace for the front row, but their efficiency shone through in the race, as they passed other cars with less energy in the dying laps to take 3rd and 4th. This should be a result for them to build off of, as we head into the next rounds. Da Costa was unlucky to hit the back of another car as they went into attack mode, which is one of the nuances of this particular track. I don’t think it cost him anything in the end, but he was lucky his wing didn’t get caught under the wheels.
As I said before, it was one of those races that was hard to read until the last few laps, when the Porsche’s pulled away, and Mortara was someone who looked in position to win a couple of times. He was able to save energy behind Wehrlein early on, but when he passed the German, the roles reversed, and he could never really recover the energy to be in a position to fight them again. 5th though is a solid result, and means his title lead has been stretched by another point over De Vries. Plus, anytime you can beat the factory team is a good day. Di Grassi’s day was ruined in qualifying, as I am sure he had the pace to match the front runners, it is just hard to climb up from the mid pack in a series this close.
Mercedes was hoping to bounce back from a disappointing second race in Diriyah, but whilst it wasn’t a disaster, especially for Nyck, they aren’t where they want to be. Here the car seemed to be lacking in all areas, as it couldn’t go for pole, nor had the efficiency to climb up the leader board at the end. At the very least they need to be beating Venturi really, which De Vries nearly did. Vandoorne fell back out of the points entirely in the end, in a year which promised so much for him, he isn’t really delivering it.
Envision with Frijns were impressively quick once again, he too was a comer and goer during the race, and was fighting for the podium until the team realised the race was going a lap longer than they expected. Cassidy was promising as well during the race, and stayed with Robin for a lot of it, his strategy of saving his attack modes for the end of the race could have worked, if he had been more efficient with energy.
Nissan did exactly what they needed to do today, which is take advantage of extraordinary circumstances. I guess they were one of the first to realise that the race would go a lap longer than planned, which meant that despite not having the pace for points, they could pass the other drivers when they ran out of energy. It should also be a boost for the team after a tough few races, and the break before Rome could give them a chance to improve. Andretti struggled all weekend, Michael Andretti admitted they just didn’t find the set up they needed. Dennis was able to bring home a point for the team, but it will have hurt them in the title fight.
It was a similar story for Jaguar, who came out in practice with their winning set up the last time we were here, which did not work for the drivers at all. From there they were just playing catch up, and to be fair, Evans nearly made the duels, but in the race, they couldn’t do any better, as they used up energy to reach the points, hoping the race would be a lap shorter, which didn’t turn out to be the case. Mahindra had alright pace, but Sims suffered with a mechanical issue, and Rowland was low on energy too, and fell back in the end. Finally, Turvey did get close to scoring points, but it wasn’t to be once again.
It was a brilliant day of action around a track which is becoming a fan favourite, and this race showed that you don’t need a jumbled up grid to have plenty of overtaking. Rome is next, which normally brings up some chaos, especially as the walls are so close there!
-M
Meaning of Motorsport 