VICTORIOUS VANDOORNE CONQUERS MONACO
Mercedes EQ’s Stoffel Vandoorne took a clinical victory at the
Monaco E-Prix last Saturday to vault into the points lead of the Formula E title chase.
Polesitter Mitch Evans had been chasing down the Belgian in the closing stages, but early over-consumption of energy put him on the back foot for the rest of the race as his rivals saved usable energy in the Jaguar’s slipstream.
In the race on the full Formula 1 configuration of the Monaco circuit, Evans led the early stages from
Pascal Wehrlein’s Porsche and the DS Techeetah of Jean-Eric Vergne.
In a largely uneventful first 25 minutes, it had initially looked like Evans’race to control, with a repeat of his Rome double likely. But the first revelation of remaining energy figures confirmed that the Kiwi had over-consumed compared to his immediate rivals.
This put Evans on the back foot, forcing the Jaguar TCS Racing team to shift its planned strategy. Going into recovery mode early made him vulnerable to the chasing pack, and it wasn’t long before first an attackboosted Vergne, and then Wehrlein, had spells in the lead.
But the glory was shortlived for German Wehrlein. Heading out of
Mirabeau, the Porsche slowly rolled to a halt ending his hopes of securing the German firm’s second win of the season. The suspected power shut down brought out the sole full-course yellow of the race, which compromised several drivers’ second lot of four minutes’ attack mode they’d just taken.
Vergne was one of those to suffer, losing most of his second boost, and that took him out of contention for what could have been a second Formula E victory at the principality after his 2019 success.
It was Vandoorne, who had cleared Evans and Vergne, that gained the most as he came out of the caution period with a 3.4 seconds advantage over the rest of the field, a lead that would not come under significant threat before the chequered flag fell.
Evans and Jaguar put in an impressive recovery drive to turn around what had looked like a race they may not finish in the points to claim second position.
A safety-car deploying incident between Oliver Rowland and Andre Lotterer meant some late race nerves for Vandoorne.
Evans’ characteristically late deployment of his second attack mode, which he used to clear both
Robin Frijns’ Envision Audi and Vergne’s obstinate DS, meant he was in with a chance to hunt Vandoorne down.
The fight though was never really on as the early-race phase energy saving from Vandoorne gave him a defining edge over a frustrated Evans in the closing laps. Vergne completed the podium but that meant his lead in the points standings was taken by the victorious Vandoorne.
Behind the fighting frontrunners,
Frijns took fourth to keep himself in the title fight, and Vergne’s DS Techeetah team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa crossed the line fifth.
An incident with his own team-mate overshadowed Lucas Di Grassi’s sixth place for Venturi at their home race. He collided with Edoardo Mortara at the exit of the tunnel, causing the ItaloSwiss driver to retire with a puncture. Results
Monaco E-Prix
When: April 30 Where: Circuit de Monaco Laps: 30
Round 6: 1 Stoffel Vandoorne (Mercedes-EQ
Formula E Team) 51m12.473s; 2 Mitch Evans (Jaguar TCS Racing) +1.285; 3 Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Techeetah) +3.293s; 4 Robin Frijns (Envision Racing) +3.467s; 5 Antonio Felix da Costa (DS Techeetah) +3.952s; 6
Lucas di Grassi (Venturi Racing) +8.133s; 7 Nick Cassidy (Envision Racing) +15.273s; 8 Sebastien Buemi (Nissan e.dams) +17.773s; 9 Jake Dennis (Avalanche Andretti Formula E) +17.820s; 10 Nyck De Vries (Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team) +18.283s. Championship positions (after 6/16 rounds): 1 Vandoorne 81; 2 Vergne 75; 3 Evans 72; 4 Frijns 71; 5 Mortara 49; 6 Lotterer 43.