Hashtag: Formula E

Jake Dennis delighted the crowds of his home race in Formula E, by winning the London ePrix for the second year running. The penultimate round was held in the streets of London on an outdoor and indoor track, the first of its kind in international motorsport competition. The Andretti man held his nerve against championship leader Stoffel Vandoorne, who extended his lead in the championship, capitalising on his rivals’ failure to reach the duels. Nyck de Vries held off a late charge from New York race winner Nick Cassidy to round out the top three. However, the Dutchman was slapped with a last-minute penalty for using more than one manouvre against Cassidy who demoted him to sixth position.

The hometown hero took his first pole position of the year, ahead of his closest rival Vandoorne by over a tenth. Vandoorne continued his impressive form to start in P2, a prime slot to extend his championship as rivals Mitch Evans and Edo Mortara’s campaigns faltered. Mercedes’ stronghold continued as Nyck de Vries held P3 ahead of Sergio Sette Camara. The Brazilian once again looked impressive during qualifying, progressing to the quarter-finals which earned him P4 on the starting grid. Lucas di Grassi was initially through to the duels, however, the Venturi driver had all his laps cancelled for impeding Evans during the session which promoted Max Gunther for his first outing in the new format. Gunther managed P6, with Oliver Askew slotting his Andretti into P5.

Dennis led from the front, and the Andretti man looked unbothered by the pressure from the dual Mercedes attack behind him. He held the lead from the start and never really looked like relinquishing it. Vandoorne also had a relatively quiet race, the Belgian holding P2 comfortably for the duration of the race. Whilst the race leaders slipped away comfortably at the start, others were not so lucky. Sam Bird ended up in a tangle with Mortara on the opening lap, ending his race prematurely – whilst Mortara limped back to the pits with his championship hopes in tatters and his car damaged. Sette Camara looked impressive early on, managing to snatch away P3 in the opening stages as the battle for power within the Techeetah continued with tempers flaring between Antonio Felix da Costa and Jean-Eric Vergne. Da Costa was victorious in the battle as Vergne struggled, slipping down the order after contact with Sebastien Buemi, for which the Swiss driver was given a time penalty.

However, ultimately, London was a battle of strategy – Cassidy took his attack mode later in the race and pulled off an incredible late charge, which brought him into podium contention. There was late drama in the dying stages, as Cassidy began to close in on the Mercedes of de Vries, but the current world champion held firm before his demotion. Evans employed the same strategy, producing an incredible recovery drive to surge up the order to P5 after starting in P14. Energy management strategy didn’t work for everyone, however. Sette Camara, after an incredible performance in the opening stages, slipped down the order and out of his first points on the final lap. Da Costa claimed P7 whilst Gunther held on to finish P8. Di Grassi and Wehrlein rounded out the top ten.

It was another exceptional day for Mercedes power with current world champion Nyck de Vries taking his first win since the opening round in Diriyah in the second race in Berlin. The Mercedes man made a lightning start from the second row of the grid and never looked back – he claimed a dominant and assured victory, finishing two seconds ahead of his competitors. The second race ran in the opposite direction, which coupled with the warmer conditions, threw up many challenges for the drivers with many struggling. However, for Mercedes, Berlin suited their package perfectly.

The Mercedes dominance began in qualifying as Edo Mortara claimed another pole position with an incredible display. The Venturi man claimed victory in the duels with blistering pace, beating out Envision’s Robin Frijns by four-tenths of a second. Nyck de Vries just missed out on the front row, the Dutchman had to settle for P3 ahead of Andre Lotterer who had another strong outing in the qualifying duels. Antonio Felix da Costa started from P5, alongside Lucas Di Grassi who rounded out the top six. Nick Cassidy was due to start in the top six, but a change of inverter in the Kiwi’s car forced him to drop down the order to start last after being hit with an eighty-place grid penalty.

Mortara’s hopes of a double race victory were shattered within the first lap, as de Vries took the lead sneaking up the inside of himself and Frijns. The grid order barely wavered in the opening stages until the drivers armed themselves with attack mode. On this occasion, they were permitted one usage for eight minutes which forced the drivers into different strategies. Da Costa was one of the drivers who benefited in attack mode, climbing the order into the podium positions as Frijns, who missed attack mode on his first attempt, and Lotterer both struggled to keep up with the pace at the front. Mortara wrestled P2 back from Da Costa as Di Grassi and Frijns teamed up to usurp Vandoorne. However, as the race entered the latter stages and attack mode spent, the frontrunners became clear. De Vries began to pull a gap at the front of the race as the battles continued behind him.

Vandoorne made another incredible late charge with the Mercedes clearly favouring the hotter conditions, squeezing Lucas Di Grassi out of the podium positions. However, it was his teammate that claimed victory, ahead of Mortara, a solid result for the Swiss-Italian driver with Vandoorne claiming P3. Di Grassi recovered well to take P4 ahead of Frijns and Da Costa, who were involved in a last lap battle for P5. Frijns was victorious – an excellent recovery drive given his error at the start of the race. Oliver Rowland had a stunning drive – the Mahindra man started in P10 but soon made his way through the field, finishing in an impressive P6. After struggling with temperature early in the race, Lotterer claimed P8, ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne in P9 who used his fanboost in the dying stages. Mitch Evans claimed the final point on a circuit that doesn’t really favour Jaguar’s race package.

It was a Saturday of success for Mercedes power this weekend at their home race as Formula E returned to Berlin, a fixture on the calendar since the inaugural season. Stoffel Vandoorne headed into Saturday as the championship leader, and held the lead over his rivals but a few drivers managed to break ground and close the gap to reignite the battle at the forefront of the championship.

Edo Mortara claimed a dominant pole position in the German capital, the first of his career, beating Alexander Sims by two tenths. It was the Mahindra man’s first outing in the new qualifying format, after a bizarre situation in the semi-finals in which he and Jean-Eric Vergne posted the same identical laptime. By virtue of posting the time first, Sims claimed the spot in the final. Vergne was relegated to fourth, lining up alongside his teammate Antonio Felix Da Costa who sat in P3. Porsche teammates Andre Lotterer and Pascal Wehrlein rounded out the top six, another consistent display from the German outfit.

Mortara got away well at the front as the chaos unfurled behind him, the two Techeetahs of Vergne and Da Costa prowled, picking off Sims and the Porsche of Lotterer also looked dangerous. The four behind Mortara continued to swap positions during the opening stages of the race. Sims slipped down the order as Wehrlein was the first man in the top six to activate his attack mode. After a poor start from the opening lap, Mercedes’ man Stoffel Vandoorne began an extraordinary climb up the order, finding himself on the fringes of the podium battle. However, the Belgian had to settle for P3 ultimately, as Vergne demonstrated a defensive masterclass to hold off the Mercedes for the second step of the podium. However, it was Mortara who took the spoils in the first round, converting his long-awaited maiden pole into a win.

Lotterer took fourth in his home race, having looked menacing at the start of the race but fell back as energy consumption began to bite. It was also an excellent day at the office for the Jaguar team – double Rome winner Mitch Evans stayed quiet in the opening stages before slowly making his way up the order to capture a healthy glut of points for his championship challenge, finishing in fifth position ahead of Wehrlein. His teammate Sam Bird also climbed through the order, finishing nine places up from his starting position, a stark contrast to the problems that plagued Jaguar in Berlin last year to finish in P7.

Da Costa started well from his second row start and looked in the battle for the podium positions but he failed to keep the pace in the latter stages of the race, finishing in eighth spot. Likewise, Sims had a strong start from the front row but lacked the pace to go with the frontrunners, finishing a tenth behind Da Costa in ninth position as Nyck De Vries rounded out the top ten with the current world champion collecting the final point.