After the incredible race we saw here last year for Formula E, it was going to be hard to live up to that this time around. It probably wasn’t quite as good, but was still great to watch, as we did see battles through the field, as well as up front.
It has been a difficult start to the year for Vandoorne, who has shown a lot of pace, without being able to translate it into good finishes. Some of that was down to issues with Mercedes race pace, some was his own doing, but luck also played its part. It all came together in Monaco however, as he gradually made his way forwards in the race, saving energy where he could, and was unstoppable at the end. Even with the Safety Car coming when he had attack mode, he was able to bring it home to win, and kickstart his title fight. De Vries continues his difficult run of races, with him once again falling back from where he started. It is still unclear where the problem is, it could just be that he isn’t aggressive enough. The fact that other teams didn’t execute well in the race, shows that Mercedes still have work to do, if they want to keep going this way.
It was a dominant qualifying for Evans, with him comfortably winning every duel he did, and doing the fastest lap of the weekend. Therefore, bearing in mind the team had incredible efficiency in Rome, there was a fear he could run away with the race. It turned out that their efficiency wasn’t as good here, and leading the first third of the race put him behind on energy, then it took the whole rest of the race for him to recover it. His race pace was probably equal to those around him, but you could see he was gutted to miss out on the win here again. After a poor qualifying, Bird got caught up in the chaos in the mid pack, and was forced to retire with damage. Jaguar still look formidable right now, as Mitch continues to close on the title lead.
Vergne finished where he started, in third, but found himself bouncing around the top 5 all race long. I am not sure if they quite had the pace of the front two, instead they used attack modes to make their way forwards. Nevertheless, he is still well in the title fight. Da Costa had a great race, making a huge amount of progress, and getting close to the podium places. Frijns does what he does best, sitting up front, maximising his results. It did look like he had better pace then the Techeetah’s , especially given he has the fastest lap of the race. He played his attack modes very well, which nearly got him ahead of Evans.
Rather surprisingly for Di Grassi, he had a quiet race, sitting in the front pack early on, before dropping back as the pace heated up at the front. This does hint that the Mercedes powertrain is not the best out there, but I am sure they will rally and come back. As Cassidy himself said, he needs to stop qualifying at the back, as he clearly has the race pace to fight for podiums too, like his teammate. If he can sort that out, the team could have a shot at the team’s championship.
Buemi was able to get a few more points for Nissan, in what is clearly their worst season ever in the sport. At least their efficiency seems to be improving, as this might be the worst track on the calendar for that. Hopefully Sebastien can soon show his skills near the front once again. Andretti looked promising in practice, yet couldn’t bring it together in qualifying, and both started outside the top 10. Askew fell back from a better starting spot, whereas the more experienced Dennis, could climb into the top 10, but his title chances are almost gone.
Sims just missed out on points, as Mahindra try to get back near the front again. Rowland, his teammate, had a promising qualifying and start to the race, but got too bold with Lotterer, and ruined both their races. He needs to calm down in wheel-to-wheel battles. Ticktum was near to yet more points for NIO, as he gets to grips with this series. Dragon Penske too couldn’t get anything from this weekend.
Porsche had an absolute disaster of a race, their pace was incredible, but it all went wrong when Wehrlein, who was leading and pulling away, suffered a complete shutdown, which ended his race. These sorts of issues will curtail any titles chances for them, as he may well have been on to win at that point. Lotterer was unlucky with what happened, as he was an innocent bystander.
With a clear gap emerging in the driver’s championship behind Frijns, the storyline for this season may be beginning to show itself. All 4 of those teams at the front have been quick at Berlin, where we go next, so it is anyone’s game, as per usual in this tight series!
-M
Meaning of Motorsport 