Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team leaves New York City without points 12.07.2021: Stoffel Vandoorne finished the eleventh round of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season in New York City in P12 after a strong recovery; Nyck de Vries crossed the finish line in P18 • Stoffel started the E-Prix from P20 after a problemati

 
Stoffel Vandoorne finished the eleventh round of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season in New York City in P12 after a strong recovery; Nyck de Vries crossed the finish line in P18



•    Stoffel started the E-Prix from P20 after a problematic qualifying and improved eight places in the race to twelfth.


•    Nyck started the race from P22 and gained good positions early on in the race. After 37 laps he crossed the finish line in P18.


•    Virgin Racing (146 points) lead the team championship after the eleventh race of the season ahead of DS Techeetah (144 points), Jaguar Racing (141 points) and Audi (115 points). The Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team (113 points) has dropped to fifth place.


•    The next two races of the 2020/21 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship will take place in London on 24 and 25 July.



#5 S. Vandoorne     P15
1:08.958
12 Laps     P20 (Q2: P4)
1:10.089
3 Laps     -     P12
Grid: P20
FL: 1:11.174     P13
54 Points



#17 N. de Vries     P20
1:09.180
18 Laps     P22 (Q2: P5)
1:10.599
3 Laps     -     P18
Grid: P22
FL: 1:10.667     P10
59 Points



 
Ian James, Team Principal:
"New York wasn't the weekend we were hoping for. It wasn't the weekend we needed or should have delivered either. Stepping onto the plane home tomorrow without having scored a single point this weekend is more than disappointing.
 


We found ourselves in a difficult position this weekend. It hasn't been the first time we didn't score as good of a result as we hoped for, but it has been the first track this season on which we seemed to struggle to find the pace we know we normally have. That's frustrating, but also an opportunity and challenge for the team to bounce back from. And if there is one group of people I have full confidence in to fight back from such a position, it's this team. They've got that fighting spirit, and as we speak, the team is already looking into the data, leaving no stone unturned to make sure we can get ourselves back in the game.
 


Our competitors have been picking up points this weekend, and we are slowly starting to find ourselves the hunters, rather than the hunted. We are determined and motivated as a team to keep fighting for all the points we can score for the remainder of the season.
 


We only have four races left. Four chances at two locations that are close to our hearts: London and Berlin. And I'm confident we will make them count - the championship is still very much open."
 



Stoffel Vandoorne:


"We were unlucky in qualifying, because Group 2 was the only one that had to deal with a bit of rain at the start. I was also missing two tyres, because I had two punctures yesterday. As a result, I drove on two tyres that I had already used in the race on Saturday.


All in all, we lacked grip a little and when the field is so competitive and everyone is bunched so close together, an old tyre is not exactly ideal. In the race, I moved up from P20 to P12. More was not possible today. I might have got one more position out of it, but certainly no more. We were down on pace a bit and I struggled with the right rear tyre which had very little rubber on it even before the start.



It's difficult to say how much that affected performance overall, but it's been a tough day for us and it was not easy to keep pushing forwards. We've got a lot of work ahead of us, but I'm feeling confident. This team has the experience and knows how to deal with such situations and we will come out of it stronger."
 



Nyck de Vries:


"That was an extremely tough weekend. I think the underlying conclusion is that we weren't as competitive this weekend. At the same time, we may have had a bit of bad luck with the first group in Saturday's qualifying and the rain in Sunday's second qualifying that affected our group.



But we must also face reality and admit that we weren't strong enough this weekend. We'll now have to analyse the data very carefully to ensure that we can come back stronger in London."
 
 
      


Sjoerd van Wijk - photo Mercedes