MERCEDES POWER DOMINATES IN BERLIN
Mercedes powertrains were on top in Berlin’s Formula E double header with Mercedes EQ’s Nyck de Vries and Edoardo Mortara’s customer Venturi dominating.
Mortara cruised to a pole and win on Saturday judging his two hits of 35kW-boosted power perfectly to vanquish the opposition and claim his second win of the season to add to his Riyadh success in January.
Jean-Eric Vergne emerged as
Mortara’s only true threat. But despite Vergne’s penultimate-lap lunge, wherein he briefly took the lead only to run wide and relinquish position, it was the ItaloSwiss that celebrated a maximum 28-point haul to close upon previous points leader Stoffel Vandoorne.
Vandoorne had looked to be a genuine contender but got bogged down in the first phase of the race and was unable to get on terms with the leader and had to settle for third.
Andre Lotterer brought Porsche a fourth-place finish at its home race, leading Mitch Evans’Jaguar, Lotterer’s team-mate Pascal Wehrlein, Sam Bird, Antonio Felix da Costa, Alexander Sims and de Vries over the line to complete the points scorers.
The strong Mercedes performance turned out not to be a one off as, after a daring move up the inside into Turn 1, Nyck De Vries took a dominant win in the second race of the weekend, on Sunday afternoon.
Polesitter Mortara tried to use a different attack mode strategy, but could do no better than second, crossing the line 2.5 seconds behind de Vries.
Mortara fought issues with loose bodywork after the do or die first corner move by de Vries led to brief contact between the pair.
Vandoorne repeated his Saturday race result to finish third, taking the final step of the podium from Lucas di Grassi in the final stages of the race. It secured Mercedes the first ever 1-2-3-4 for a Formula E powertrain manufacturer.
Robin Frijns enjoyed a turnaround in fortunes from a desperate Saturday performance to be the best of the non-Merc powered cars.
The Envision Audi driver’s fifth position, though, was mired in controversy after an incident with Antonio Felix da Costa’s DS Techeetah entry.
The pair came together at Turn 6 with
Frijns contacting the back of da Costa’s car and taking the position. Although Frijns apologised post-race for the collision, the FIA deemed no further action was required anchoring da Costa to sixth.
Oliver Rowland gave Mahindra some cheer after a difficult season so far by finishing seventh, as he headed home Lotterer and championship contenders Vergne and Evans who took the final points.
Results
When: May 14-15 Where: Tempelhof Circuit, Berlin
Race 1 (40 laps): 1 Edoardo Mortara (Venturi Racing) 46m16.175s; 2 Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Techeetah) +1.782s; 3 Stoffel Vandoorne (Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team) +1.987s; 4 Andre Lotterer (Porsche Formula E Team) +2.579s; 5 Mitch Evans (Jaguar TCS Racing) +3.189s; 6 Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche Formula E Team) +5.405s; 7 Sam Bird (Jaguar TCS Racing) +5.683s; 8 Antonio Felix da Costa (DS Techeetah) +6.400s; 9 Alexander Sims (Mahindra Racing) +6.565s; 10 Nyck de Vries (Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team) +6.602s. Pole: Mortara. Fastest lap: di Grassi (Venturi Racing) 1m07.880 (77.60mph)
Race 2 (40 laps): 1 de Vries 46m12.268s; 2 Mortara +2.454s; 3 Vandoorne +6.936s; 4 di Grassi +8.165s; 5 Robin Frijns (Envision Racing) +13.829s; 6 da Costa +14.387s; 7 Oliver Rowland (Mahindra Racing) +15.518s; 8 Lotterer +15.845s; 9 Vergne +18.831s; 10 Evans +21.722s. Pole: Mortara. Fastest lap: Nick Cassidy (Envision Racing) 1m07.849s (77.60mph).
Championship positions (after 8/16 rounds): 1 Vandoorne 111; 2 Mortara 99; 3 Vergne 95; 4 Evans 83; 5 Frijns 81; 6 de Vries 65.