Setback for Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team in first part of Season Finale 14.08.2021: Tough race day in Berlin for the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team: Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries finished the penultimate race of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season 12th and 22nd respectively

Tough race day in Berlin for the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team: Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries finished the penultimate race of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season 12th and 22nd respectively



    Stoffel struggled with tyre temperatures in Group 3 and lacked grip as a result. He finally managed to qualify 22nd on the grid.


    Stoffel gained ten positions as he fought his way up into P12 during the 38-lap race.


    Nyck went out on track in the first qualifying group, but struggled with traffic on his lap, ultimately setting the 19th fastest time of the session



    Nyck moved up several places in the first stint of the race, drawing ever closer to a position in the Top Ten until he had to pit with a puncture. The pit stop cost him a lot of time and bumped him back down into P22 which is where he finished.


    Nyck (95 points) leads the drivers' championship after race 14 out of 15 taking place this season and is three points up on Edoardo Mortara (92 points).



    Jaguar Racing (171 points) lead the team championship from DS Techeetah (166 points), Virgin Racing (165 points) and Audi (162 points). The Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team (158 points) dropped back down into fifth place.



    The final race of the 2020/21 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season will take place tomorrow, Sunday at 14:34 BST, in Berlin once again.


    

Standings

#5 S. Vandoorne

P6 1:07.033 30 Laps
P7 1:06.693 22 Laps
P22 (Q3: P6)1:07.006 3 Laps-
P12 Grid: P22 FL: 1:09.162
P15 63 Points



#17  N. de Vries

P14  1:07.193 31 Laps
P3 1:06.547 22 Laps
P19 (Q1: P4) 1:06.902 3 Laps
-P22 Grid: P19FL: 1:09.340
P1 95 Points



Ian James, Team Principal:“Today was a challenging day for the team. It was always going to be challenging of course, with the field so close together. What we didn’t expect however, is that we would make our own lives more difficult by making some mistakes in our approach for qualifying. What followed was a race where we would have to fight our way to the front; a difficult fight.



During the race, there were other obstacles on our way to the points. Damage to Nyck’s car, in the form of a tyre puncture, saw him fall back to the back of the pack after having to pit for a new tyre.



This played a key factor in how our race unfolded after that, as points were initially most certainly within reach for him and the team. Stoffel had his own battle to fight – coming from the far back in P22. He managed to make up 10 positions in the race, but that unfortunately wasn’t enough to score any points.



We will now need to take the learnings from today, and improve those areas we know we need to improve. We’ve got a good understanding already of what we will need to work on. We can also take some comfort out of the pace we have seen in the car during the race and the fact that Nyck is still leading the championship.



Looking at Venturi’s performance confirms that the package we have is very strong – and congratulations to them on a fantastic race! If we can deliver tomorrow, it will pay off big time. The team is still in a position to end this season on the highest high possible, and that is our goal.”





Stoffel Vandoorne:


“Today was tough. We found ourselves at the back of the grid after a difficult time in qualifying. We were able to fight our way forwards during the race. I gained ten positions, and so in the end, came home in twelfth place just outside of the points.



And at the same time, I had perhaps one of the fastest cars on the track. Our focus now is on tomorrow's race, in which we are still fighting for the team championship. However, we’ll have to sort out our qualifying first. I think we'll have a better race tomorrow if we can start from further up the grid.”





Nyck de Vries:


“Unfortunately, we didn't manage to score any points today. We made life difficult for ourselves in qualifying because we qualified at the rear of the field, which affected our entire day. When you start from the back, there’s always the risk of contact and of being involved in a collision, and that’s exactly what happened.



We were having a good race up until then and could possibly have taken a point, but I got hit by another car. One of my tyre valves was damaged and I had a puncture. Shame, but that’s just the way it is. As far as tomorrow goes, it’s heads down and push hard!”


    

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