Formula E

Mercedes’ Nyck de Vries has won the 2021 Formula E championship in a dramatic finale in Berlin, while Norman Nato claimed his maiden victory. De Vries went into the final leading the championship but had a lot of work to do from 13th on the grid. Mitch Evans looked set to be the favourite given that he was starting from third on the grid with Jake Dennis the outsider from ninth. There was drama from the off as Evans stalled at the start, several cars avoided his stricken Jaguar except for Venturi’s Edoardo Mortara. With both Evans and Mortara out of the race at the start, the race was red-flagged due to the amount of debris left out on track. Once the race restarted, Dennis was eighth putting him in likely title contention with de Vries out of the points. The drama continued as Dennis lost control of his BMW into Turn 1, clattering the barriers. From then on, the destiny of the title was in de Vries’ hands with his three main rivals out of the race. De Vries held on to finish eighth to secure the 2021 Formula E crown. It was double-delight for Mercedes as Stoffel Vandoorne’s podium ensured Mercedes took the teams’ championship. Vandoorne led the race from pole but lost out to eventual race winner Nato and Nissan’s Oliver Rowland. Nato had to defend hard from Rowland at the Safety Car restart, caused by Antonio Felix da Costa’s stricken Techeetah. The Frenchman won by 2.2s ahead of Rowland, with Vandoorne completing the podium. Andre Lotterer fought hard to finish fourth ahead of Mahindra’s Alexander Sims. Pascal Wehrlein finished sixth ahead of Sam Bird, who got past de Vries on the final lap. Rene Rast started from the pit lane but recovered to finish ninth, while Tom Blomqvist picked up a rare point for the NIO outfit. BERLIN E-PRIX (2) – RESULTS POSITION DRIVER NATIONALITY TEAM GAP 1 Norman Nato FRA ROKiT Venturi Racing 36 Laps 2 Oliver Rowland GBR Nissan e.dams + 2.270s 3 Stoffel Vandoorne BEL Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team + 2.837s 4 Andre Lotterer GER TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team + 7.105s 5 Alexander Sims GBR Mahindra Racing + 8.453s 6 Pascal Wehrlein GER TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team + 8.847s 7 Sam Bird GBR Jaguar Racing + 10.473s 8 Nyck de Vries NED Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team + 11.108s 9 Rene Rast GER Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler + 12.189s 10 Tom Blomqvist GBR NIO 333 FE Team + 12.679s 11 Jean-Eric Vergne FRA DS Techeetah + 13.437s 12 Robin Frijns NED Envision Virgin Racing + 13.748s 13 Alex Lynn GBR Mahindra Racing + 14.366s 14 Sebastien Buemi SUI Nissan e.dams + 14.692s 15 Maximilian Gunther GER BMW i Andretti Motorsport + 15.528s 16 Joel Eriksson SWE Dragon / Penske Autosport + 15.940s 17 Nick Cassidy NZL Envision Virgin Racing + 16.306s 18 Sergio Sette Camara BRA Dragon / Penske Autosport + 16.961s 19 Oliver Turvey GBR NIO 333 FE Team + 21.076s 20 Lucas di Grassi BRA Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler + 35.190s DNF Antonio Felix da Costa POR DS Techeetah DNF DNF Jake Dennis GBR BMW i Andretti Motorsport DNF DNF Edoardo Mortara SUI ROKiT Venturi Racing DNF DNF Mitch Evans NZL Jaguar Racing DNF

Mercedes is preparing to leave Formula E at the end of the 2022 season after the conclusion of the latest internal talks by Daimler board members over whether to commit to a Gen3 programme. The Race understands that the final decision, which is likely to be made public next month, is set to confirm that Mercedes will join fellow German brands Audi and BMW in leaving the new world championship as an official manufacturer next summer. The move would bring to an end Mercedes’ formal Formula E involvement after just three seasons, and leave Porsche as the sole German factory team involved in the Gen3 era. Speaking to selected media at the Berlin E-Prix on Sunday, Mercedes’ Toto Wolff confirmed that a decision had recently been made but would not explicitly disclose exactly what it was. “The decision has been taken, but we’re not going to communicate anything let’s say today,” said Wolff. He called the reasoning over Mercedes’ Formula E future “an internal thing that we need to understand for us”. Wolff added: “Does this work or not? And if you say, ‘yeah, it does work,’ then you can still go and speak with the series and say, ‘we believe that this needs to change’ and ‘we believe that qualifying groups shouldn’t cause so much variability and unpredictability.’ “Whatever our input is, and they can listen, take it on board or not. “But it’s mainly for us making up our mind what we want to do in terms of motor racing going forward.” If ultimately confirmed, the decision is set to be a major blow for Formula E as it will mean that one of the championship’s highest profile and biggest spending manufacturers will forsake its position in the series and potentially reduce the 2022/23 season’s grid to just 20 cars. That is because the licence previously owned by Audi is presently idle, although The Race understands that new interested parties are holding talks with Formula E in the coming weeks for a potential 2023 entry. Mercedes’ exit will be seen as a shock in many quarters as the current drivers’ championship leader was initially tipped to commit to the new Gen3 rules set that will begin at the end of 2022.

Lucas di Grassi has taken the win in the first of Formula E’s Berlin finale races, putting himself firmly back in contention for the championship. Jean-Éric Vergne had taken pole, beating DS Techeetah team mate Antonio Felix da Costa in a Super Pole session where the reigning team and driver champions looked almost as unbeatable as during the relentless 2020 finale around Tempelhof. Lucas di Grassilined up third, with Edoardo Mortara alongside him.Attack Mode had been confirmed as one activation of 8 minutes – a variant from the more typical multiple periods of the higher power mode. The grid managed to get away fairly cleanly, only Tom Blomqvist’s NIO 333 car getting clipped by André Lotterer and having to return to the pits with a puncture – a real issue, in Formula E, as a new tyre will have had to come out of Sunday’s allocation. Cassidy seemed to get into difficulties with 37 minutes to go, getting passted by Günther, Bird, Rast and Lotterer in quick succession and slipping down to fifteenth after having initially improved up to 11th from his 13th-place start. The slipstream of a car ahead is very important around the Tempelhof track – Techeetah’s almost impossible dominance during the six races there last year was due to mastering having their cars work together to take advantage of the energy-saving Pascal Wehrlein sustained a puncture after making a late defensive move against Rowland that saw the Nissan’s front wing swipe Wehrlein’s left rear tyre. With 33 minutes to go, as Wehrlein headed into the pits, Sam Bird’s car slowed on track and finally stopped on the start-finish straight, bringing out yellow flags and finally a safety car. The safety car came in with 28 minutes remaining, leading to a 4kWh reduction in available energy. Da Costa and Vergne swapped places, Da Costa taking the lead, with 22 minutes left in the race – leaving Vergne to defend from Di Grassi, while at the same time René Rast was leading a huge charge up the pack; having started 12th he had moved up to fourth by the halfway point. Di Grassi passed Vergne, Rast following him through and forcing the Techeetah down to fourth. The two were able, just minutes later, to also pass Da Costa as it seemed like the Techeetah cars were fading. Rast was unable to defend, with an energy deficit, against Mortara. Championship leader De Vries headed into the pits following a collision with Alex Lynn, his slim hopes of scoring points narrowing further after starting 19th. Di Grassi had yet to take Attack Mode and when he did, with 18 minutes remaining, he lost the lead to Mortara, whose Venturi team mate Norman Nato was able to follow him for the third team 1-2 of the race, after Techeetah and Audi had taken the front two spots. Rast seemed to fade, drivers struggling throughout the race with thermal management in vey high temperatures around Tempelhof’s unforgiving concreate. However, Di Grassi passed Nato for second with 13 minutes remaining, still in his Attack Mode while Mortara had already spent his. The Audi driver was able to make the move and take the lead at just under 11 minutes remaining and still with Attack Mode left to build a gap from the Venturi. Evans passed Nato for third, feeding him back into pressure from Jake Dennis in the final minutes and despite a fierce battle around the final laps and a close to side-by-side finish, Di Grassi led Mortara across the line. De Vries narrowly maintains the title lead, heading into tomorrow’s final round, despite finishing dead last.

Driving through the pit lane is one of the fewest types of penalties the stewards prefer imposing on a driver infringing the laws of motorsport including F1. However, a racing team in Formula-E preferred driving through the pit lane to gain positions during the race at the 2021 London E-Prix. Audi Sport driver, Lucas Di Grassi, found a window of opportunity during lap 12 of the race after Antonio da Costa and Andre Lotterer came together on lap 11. However, Race Control eventually showed the Brazilian black flag after failing to adhere to the FIA’s rules. Under the safety car period, Di Grassi, surprisingly drove through the pit lane, even though no Audi crew were available on the box. Why you might ask? Well, in a bizarre scenario, the pit lane speed was much bigger than the MINI Pace Setter’s speed on the track. Hence, the former F1 driver pulled off a smart strategy and drove through the empty pit lane. Interestingly, Di Grassi gained 7 positions out of the maneuver and rejoined the track as the race leader. Considering Di Grassi’s action was completely legal, one might wonder, why did the Brazilian suffer disqualification? Well, although he almost abided by the rules of the FIA, Di Grassi failed to bring his Audi to a complete halt on the pit box, as the car was still rolling. The race control noted the incident and imposed a penalty for Di Grassi for the Safety Car procedure infringement, which he failed to complete before the chequered flag. Hence, the Audi driver was black-flagged, handing Mahindra Racing, their first-ever win in Formula-E. The Brazilian took to Twitter to hand his full support to the team that opted to risk the strategy under the safety car period. “Everything we did today was clearly permitted by the rules of the championship. We only could do it if the safety car was in a lower speed than the pit-lane speed limit. Otherwise, I would lose positions. It was a bold, risky move. But, I’m fully behind my team when the decision was taken,” he wrote. “The penalty was correct applied because the vehicle (the wheels did reach 0) didn’t go to full 0 km/h AFTER the data was analyzed in detail, as it was so close. I was only informed of the penalty after the checkered flag, via radio.” Overall, had Di Grassi pulled off the maneuver perfectly, it could have been hailed as one of the smartest moves in Formula-E. However, that, unfortunately, wasn’t the case.

Cape Town is to host a round of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, says Jaguar and e-Movement. e-Movement is the promoter of the Cape Town race, set to follow events in Saudi Arabia and Mexico. As the founding partner to e-Movement, Jaguar South Africa supported the bid to host the first Formula E (electric) race in Cape Town. The event will take place in February next year. The announcement to include Cape Town in the roster was made by the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) in Geneva, following a scheduled meeting to approve the Season 8 race calendar by Formula E Operations. “This is a historic first for our country and Jaguar South Africa is ecstatic to have been part of the team to secure Formula E for Cape Town and South Africa,” says Jaguar Land Rover South Africa MD Richard Gouverneur. “We are delighted and honoured to be included on the calendar after two years of bidding to make this dream a reality,” adds e-Movement chairperson Iain Banner. e-Movement says it has been working very closely with the City of Cape Town to ensure that all the requirements can be met to stage a successful event next year. The Cape Town round will be the first FIA World Championship single-seater race in South Africa since the 1993 South African Grand Prix. “On a personal level, having grown up in South Africa, I’m incredibly excited to be racing in my home country with the team. For Jaguar the announcement is very welcome as South Africa is an important market,” notes Jaguar Racing team director James Barclay. Cape Town mayor Dan Plato notes that the City of Cape Town is pleased to be chosen as one of the cities to participate in the Formula E tournament. “The event will unlock major investment, job creation and tourism potential through identifying Cape Town as the racing destination on the African continent. “We look forward to working toward this event. The city has the necessary infrastructure and skills to host an event of this size and we are confident that [it] will further cement Cap Town’s global reputation as the world’s leading festival and event destination.”

Another E-Prix in the United States is being actively pursued by Formula E as it looks to expand its calendar to as many as 16 locations in 2023. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston and Atlanta are all known to be possible venues for another race in the United States to add to Long Beach, Miami and New York, which have been used for E-Prixs since the inaugural season in 2014/15. The moves come on the eve of Formula E’s fourth visit to the country for the New York E-Prix races, which will use the track located in the Red Hook district of the city close to Brooklyn. Formula E has two teams with American links as the Dragon Penske Autosport operation is entered under the Stars and Stripes through its owner Jay Penske, and the BMW i Andretti team is owned by Michael Andretti although registered in the UK. The Race can reveal that Houston in Texas is believed to be the most likely venue for a second U.S race as the city ramps up its sustainability push. In April of last year, the city launched the Houston Climate Action Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to meet the Paris Agreement goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. The city hosted a CART race between 1998 and 2001 in the downtown area, adjacent to the George R. Brown Convention Center. A new circuit at the Reliant Park area was utilised in both 2006 and 2007 when Sebastien Bourdais was victorious for Newman Haas, while a heavily modified track was used by IndyCar in 2013 and 2014 for double-header races. The final event was memorable for being the only IndyCar win for Colombian racer Carlos Huertas in a Dale Coyne entry. While the all-electric world championship would not comment on individual races that might become part of future calendars, Formula E co-founder and deputy CEO, Alberto Longo, told The Race that “being in the U.S is very desirable and important for us and we want a second event”. “The market there is picking up and I see a lot of interest coming from not only the west coast, but some other states in the US also,” said Longo. “Options exist and we’re talking to people at the moment but they are at very early stages. “We are actively talking with more than five cities in the US and some of the prospects are pretty exciting.” The 2021-22 Formula E calendar is set to be confirmed this Thursday after the FIA World Motorsport Council has sat in Monaco.

Joel Eriksson will keep his Dragon Penske Formula E seat for next weekend’s New York City E-Prix double-header after deputising for DTM regular Nico Mueller last time out in Mexico. The Swede, who was officially named as the British based American team’s reserve driver in May, filled in for Mueller at both Puebla E-Prix last month finishing 17th and 15th after a penalty-affected weekend largely due to technical issues relating to an inverter problem, that caused the DPA team to break the seals on its homologated component. It had been expected that Mueller would return for the New York City races as there is no clash with his DTM commitments next weekend. The move could see Mueller’s two seasons as a DPA driver come to an end because the following Formula E rounds at the ExCeL Arena in London clash with the Norisring rounds of the DTM. That would mean only the Tempelhof Airfield races would be available for Mueller to compete and technically he could switch back into the seat despite Formula E working to a regulation that forbids driver changes for the final two races. This is because teams can revert to the originally nominated driver which means that Mueller could in theory return to the No.6 Penske cockpit. The Race understands that Mueller may be offered a covering role for the New York City E-Prix but is unlikely to be in the Big Apple. Factory Audi driver Mueller is driving in the new-look DTM championship this season in a Team Rosberg run Audi R8 LMS Evo and finished second in the first round at Monza last month. He was considered for a drive with the Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler squad in 2019 but instead joined Dragon along with Brendon Hartley in the summer of that year. Mueller’s maiden campaign netted no points despite a promising start with a seventh position on the Mexico City E-Prix start grid in February of 2020. This season he has scored points on three occasions; a fifth in the second Diriyah E-Prix, a fortunate second at the infamous first Valencia race and then a ninth in Rome. Despite the points haul, DPA’s pace has again been disappointing with the all-new Penske EV-6 failing to make an impact since it made its debut in Monaco. Eriksson will again partner Sergio Sette Camara who has collated 12 points so far this season, all thanks to a fourth place in Riyadh.

Formula E champion Antonio Felix da Costa fended off Robin Frijns and Mitch Evans to take pole for the series’ first race on the full Formula 1 version of the Monaco Grand Prix track. A 1m31.317s superpole lap for DS Techeetah driver da Costa on a track identical to the F1 layout bar an adjusted chicane profile gave him the top spot by just 0.012s over group qualifying pacesetter Frijns’ Envision Virgin. Evans had been fastest in practice for Jaguar and was only 0.051s off pole in third, with Jean-Eric Vergne a mere 0.008s behind him in the second DS Techeetah. With minimal track evolution, this was a wide open session in which drivers from all four qualifying groups made it into superpole. But that didn’t stop some of the main title contenders ending up down the order. Championship leader Nyck de Vries attracted the ire of Sam Bird on their out-laps in group one as he held back to try to create a gap to Mercedes team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne and was hit by the following Jaguar at Portier. Then when it came to de Vries’ flying lap, his car dropped out of the full power qualifying mode, leaving him a second and a half off the pace. He’ll line up 23rd on the grid. Jaguar felt de Vries’ driving prevented Bird from preparing his tyres properly for the qualifying lap. Bird ended up 16th – one place behind Vandoorne. Oliver Rowland would’ve been fifth but had his superpole lap cancelled for leaving the pitlane too late as timings were revised after a red flag in group four. He crossed the exit just after the light had gone red. He lines up sixth, losing just one place to Maximilian Guenther’s BMW. Envision Virgin’s rookie Nick Cassidy missed superpole by just 0.003s on his first racing appearance in Monaco so starts seventh alongside Pascal Wehrlein’s Porsche. Alex Lynn will be joined by Rene Rast on row five as 10th-fastest Norman Nato is carrying a two-place grid penalty for running into Sergio Sette Camara’s stopped car in first practice. Dragon Penske Autosport driver Sette Camara caused his second red flag of the day in group four qualifying when he spun into the barriers at the final corner. Unlike the controversial Diriyah qualifying session in which Sette Camara also crashed, this time a rapid red flag meant those who would’ve been disrupted by yellows for the incident – Sebastien Buemi and Tom Blomqvist – were given a chance to restart their laps. They could only manage 13th and 21st, though. Pos Name Team Car Group 1 Group 2 1 António Félix da Costa DS Techeetah DS E-Tense FE21 1m31.832s 1m31.317s 2 Robin Frijns Envision Virgin Racing Audi e-tron FE07 1m31.638s 1m31.329s 3 Mitch Evans Jaguar Racing Jaguar I-Type 5 1m31.772s 1m31.368s 4 Jean-Eric Vergne DS Techeetah DS E-Tense FE21 1m31.839s 1m31.376s 5 Maximilian Günther BMW i Andretti Motorsport BMW iFE.21 1m31.817s 1m32.039s 6 Oliver Rowland Nissan e.DAMS Nissan IM02 1m31.85s 7 Nick Cassidy Envision Virgin Racing Audi e-tron FE07 1m31.853s 8 Pascal Wehrlein TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Porsche 99X Electric 1m31.9s 9 Alex Lynn Mahinda Racing Mahindra M7Electro 1m31.952s 10 Norman Nato RokIT Venturi Racing Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 1m31.964s 11 René Rast Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler Audi e-tron FE07 1m32.125s 12 Alexander Sims Mahinda Racing Mahindra M7Electro 1m32.146s 13 Sébastien Buemi Nissan e.DAMS Nissan IM02 1m32.209s 14 Jake Dennis BMW i Andretti Motorsport BMW iFE.21 1m32.247s 15 Stoffel Vandoorne Mercedes-Benz EQ Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 1m32.277s 16 Sam Bird Jaguar Racing Jaguar I-Type 5 1m32.281s 17 Lucas Di Grassi Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler Audi e-tron FE07 1m32.303s 18 Edoardo Mortara RokIT Venturi Racing Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 1m32.329s 19 André Lotterer TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Porsche 99X Electric 1m32.339s 20 Nico Müller Dragon / Penske Autosport Penske EV-4 1m32.344s 21 Tom Blomqvist NIO 333 Formula E Team NIO 333 001 1m32.63s 22 Oliver Turvey NIO 333 Formula E Team NIO 333 001 1m32.633s 23 Nyck de Vries Mercedes-Benz EQ Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 1m33.07s 24 Sérgio Sette Câmara Dragon / Penske Autosport Penske EV-4

A potential energy deduction error caused the final lap chaos in Valencia on Saturday, which caused only nine drivers to finish the race, five drivers to be disqualified, and four drivers to retire from the race. During Saturday’s race, the series saw five safety cars, and as per the FIA rules an energy deduction of 1kwh per minute will be subtracted from the total battery output of 54kwh. The FIA announced that 19kwh had been reduced from the total of 54kwh. However in the final safety car period, that was caused by Andre Lotterer getting stuck in the gravel at Turn 1 after he came together with Edoardo Mortara, the FIA deducted 7kwh rather than the 5kwh they stated. Therefore the total amount that was deducted from the race was 21kwh. This is close to half of the battery power being deducted from the cars. But this power is not physically taken out of the cars, which is why we saw the likes of Oliver Rowland and Alexander Sims still ran flat out despite hitting zero percent. Other drivers like Jean-Eric Vergne tried to cruise around as slow as possible to ensure they didn’t use more power than what they were allowed to. If you look at the incident energy figures just before the safety car was called, Antonio Felix Da Costa had 22% of usable energy left. Nyck De Vries has 24% and Norman Nato had 20%. With a 5kwh deduction, it is fairly straight forward to wok out how much percentage each driver should lose. You would do 5 divided by 54, as this is the total amount of usage the drivers have during a race. Then you multiply the answer by 100. The answer is 9.26% of battery usage that the drivers should lose. The other factor to consider is that the teams still use energy under the safety car but much less. As the message for the safety car to come in at the end of the lap was called. Da Costa was down to 19%. He had lost 3% from when the safety period had started. However, as it was a 5kwh deduction the same 9.26% energy usage should still be deducted. Therefore, as the race restarted with 22 seconds left on the clock Da Costa should have had 10% of usable energy remaining and De Vries should have had 13%. Nato on the other hand would have had 6% and would probably had to slow down dramatically to make it to the end. For De Vries and Da Cosa this would have been enough to reach the chequered flag. However, after the 5kwh energy deduction took place, 13% of usable energy was actually subtracted from the cars, which is the same as 7kwh. This is shown by the screenshot where Da Costa now has 6% of usable energy and De Vries has 8%. Therefore, the wrong amount of energy was deducted from the cars after the final safety car which did last five minutes. If the correct amount of energy was deducted the only driver that would have potentially struggled to finish would have been Norman Nato.

BMW’s Jake Dennis resisted race-long pressure to convert pole position into his first Formula E victory in Valencia. Dennis stormed to his maiden pole position, beating Andre Lotterer by 0.8s as track conditions went from damp to dry in qualifying. The British driver managed the race from the front, ensuring there wasn’t a repeat of yesterday’s drama where the majority of the field ran out of energy. There had been concerns going into the E-Prix that the race leader would be at a severe disadvantage due to the advantage the cars behind would have in terms of energy saving, benefiting from the slipstream effect. Dennis dampened such concerns to secure an impressive maiden victory in the series. The BMW driver kept Mahindra’s Alex Lynn at bay for the first half of the E-Prix, before checking out at the front when Lynn dropped back after an incident with Norman Nato. Nato was handed a five-second time penalty for the aforementioned incident, dropping him from second to fifth place. Lotterer picked up second and his first points of the season, while Lynn recovered to finish third having been as low as ninth after his incident with Nato. Nato’s penalty also promoted Oliver Rowland into fourth as the lead Nissan e.Dams driver. Rene Rast was one of the afternoon’s star performers, recovering from 14th on the grid to finish an impressive sixth. Rast moved up to second but picked up some debris in the closing laps which appeared to impact the handling of his car. Jean-Eric Vergne struggled to make much progress as he finished in seventh, beating Oliver Turkey in eighth place. Edoardo Mortara and Lucas di Grassi rounded out the points-paying positions – making it a double points score for both Venturi and Audi. It was a disappointing day for Mercedes and Jaguar – with the two teams at the top of both championships. Sam Bird and Mitch Evans could only recover to P14 and P15, while Nyck de Vries in the lead Mercedes was 16th. Stoffel Vandoorne looked set to score a handful of points but an incident with Sebastien Buemi forced the Belgian into early retirement with front wing damage. In terms of the drivers’ championship, de Vries remains on top, nine points clear of teammate Vandoorne. Bird and Robin Frijns sit third and fourth on 43 points each. Mercedes remains first in the teams’ championship, 23 points ahead of Jaguar. VALENCIA E-PRIX – RACE 2 RESULTS POSITION DRIVER NATIONALITY TEAM TIME 1 Jake Dennis GBR BMW i Andretti Motorsport 30 Laps 2 Andre Lotterer GER TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team + 1.483s 3 Alex Lynn GBR Mahindra Racing + 2.428s 4 Oliver Rowland GBR Nissan e.dams + 2.870s 5 Norman Nato FRA ROKiT Venturi Racing + 5.811s 6 Rene Rast GER Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler + 8.122s 7 Jean-Eric Vergne FRA DS Techeetah + 8.782s 8 Oliver Turvey GBR NIO 333 FE Team + 11.292s 9 Edoardo Mortara SUI ROKiT Venturi Racing + 12.014s 10 Lucas di Grassi BRA Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler + 12.405s 11 Sebastien Buemi SUI Nissan e.dams + 13.295s 12 Maximilian Gunther GER BMW i Andretti Motorsport + 13.594s 13 Nick Cassidy NZL Envision Virgin Racing + 14.329s 14 Sam Bird GBR Jaguar Racing + 15.151s 15 Mitch Evans NZL Jaguar Racing + 17.213s 16 Nyck de Vries NED Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team + 18.844s 17 Tom Blomqvist GBR NIO 333 FE Team + 18.885s 18 Pascal Wehrlein GER TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team + 19.274s 19 Robin Frijns NED Envision Virgin Racing + 19.756s 20 Nico Muller SUI Dragon / Penske Autosport + 21.069s 21 Sergio Sette Camara BRA Dragon / Penske Autosport + 32.079s 22 Antonio Felix da Costa POR DS Techeetah + 59.698s 23 Alexander Sims GBR Mahindra Racing + 64.277 DNF Stoffel Vandoorne BEL Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team DNF

Formula E has announced an update to its 2021 calendar, putting key races in New York and London back on the schedule. The all-electric championship has also announced a new venue for its Mexican round.The 2021 season was originally due to begin in Santiago, Chile in January. That raced was postponed, making the double-header Diriyah EPrix in Saudi Arabia the first event. The season continued with two further races in Rome earlier this month and will hold another double-header in Valencia this weekend. Until today the only other confirmed event for its seventh season was the Monaco EPrix on May 8th. As expected, races theoretically planned for Marrakech and Santiago this year do not appear on the final calendar. It will feature visits to Mexico, New York and London before a double-header finale in Berlin. The Templehof airport venue also closed last year’s heavily disrupted season, playing host to six races in nine days. The Mexico round has moved about 150 kilometres, from the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City to Autodromo Miguel E. Abed in Puebla. This will be the first time country’s round has been held outside its capital, as the Mexico City circuit is currently being used as a temporary hospital. The New York and London rounds will take place in Red Hook and the ExCel, respectively. Both venues had become Covid-19 hospitals during the pandemic, but have wound down operations and are committed to hosting races in July.

Formula E will, for the first time, race on the full Monaco Grand Prix circuit, the electric series has confirmed. The Monaco EPrix is scheduled for May 8 and is set to go ahead despite COVID-19 restrictions, which have been tightened in recent weeks in France and Monaco. Formula E has used a shorter version of the famous track in its three previous visits, turning right before the Massenet corner, cutting out Mirabeau, the hairpin and tunnel. This year’s event will utilise the full 3.32km track layout, which has been made possible by the introduction of the Gen2 car, which features increased performance and range, whilst the full circuit has already been constructed in anticipation of Formula 1’s visit just a few weeks after Formula E. The LED lights on the halo will also illuminate as the cars make their way through the famous Monaco tunnel for the first time. The circuit won’t be identical to the F1 version, with a change to the kerbs at Turn 1 (Sainte Devote), harking back to the original 1929 layout. The Turn 11 chicane on the exit of the tunnel will also be tweaked. “I’m glad to see the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship back in the Principality,” commented FIA President Jean Todt. “It is in the series’ DNA to compete on streets circuits and Monaco is one of the most iconic tracks in the world. This discipline has its own identity, that’s why, together with Formula E and the ACM, we’ve designed a bespoke layout which suits its particularities.” Formula E chief championship officer, Alberto Longo, added: “To see Formula E race around the longer version of the most historic racing circuit in the world will mark another great milestone for the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. “In many ways, this circuit is made for Formula E – it’s a fast and narrow street circuit which will see plenty of opportunities for overtaking and will really test driver’s energy management with sharp inclines and high-speed sections. “The FIA and the ACM are allowing us to race around corners steeped in motorsport tradition and we are honoured that Formula E will be creating its own history on May 8.”

The rain fell in little increments throughout the only practice session ahead of qualifying for race two of the 2021 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship Rome ePrix. The slippery track, from rain that fell before and during the session, led to a few moments of sliding from the drivers, mostly in Turns Four and Seven. No damage was sustained, with Qualifying scheduled at 8:45 local time (7:45 BST). Envision Virgin Racing’s Nick Cassidy set the benchmark time in Free Practice, with a 1:40.107, with BMW i Andretti Motorsport driver Maximilian Günther and unlucky Mercedes-Benz EQ driver Stoffel Vandoorne behind him. They managed to set a time on full power during a reprieve in the rainy conditions. Yesterday’s race winner, Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Techeetah) set his best time of seventh in the standings. His team-mate, last season’s ABB FIA Formula E Champion Antonio Felix Da Costa (DS Techeetah), was down in seventeenth at the end of practice. After missing race one following his crash in practice on Saturday morning, Oliver Turvey returned to the track for the NIO 33 FE Team and turned a handful of laps in a car that has been completely rebuilt around a new chassis. He ended up at the back of the timesheets but at least we are likely to have a full grid for Sunday’s race. Eight Yellow Flags were waved during the session, most of them for tyre lockups and sliding cars, due to the rain and drivers not stopping on time for the corners. It is therefore impossible to say who will be taking pole position in Qualifying later today, with mixed conditions set to persist throughout the day.