Two cars in the points for the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team in second race at Diriyah 29.01.2022: Formula E: Diriyah E-Prix 2022 Saturday, January 29th Learning day for the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team: After the team's one-two win in the season-opening round of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries fini

Formula E: Diriyah E-Prix 2022
Saturday, January 29th


 
Learning day for the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team: After the team's one-two win in the season-opening round of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries finished seventh and tenth in the second race at Diriyah


•    Nyck set the fastest time in Group A in qualifying and progressed through to the final stages after emerging victorious against Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Techeetah) and Lucas di Grassi (Venturi Racing). In the final round, he prevailed against Edoardo Mortara (Venturi Racing) by five thousandths of a second in an extremely close-fought duel to secure his second Pole Position in Formula E.


•    Stoffel lined up in Group B and booked P6 in his group. He started the E-Prix from twelfth on the grid.


•    Stoffel gained several positions in the early stages of the race and fought his way up into the top ten. He finished the race in P7 after a late Safety Car period.


•    Nyck led the E-Prix from pole position and was in the leading group as the final segment of the race got under way. After contact with Vergne in Turn 19, Nyck dropped back down to P10 which is where he finished.


•    The race was won by Edoardo Mortara in the Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 (Venturi Racing). His team-mate Lucas di Grassi in P3 also secured a place on the podium.


•    Venturi Racing (58 points) lead the team championship after the second race of the season ahead of the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team (57 points).

•    Round three of the 2021/22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship will be held in Mexico City on 12 February.



Driver    FP3    Qualifying    Race    Standings


#5 S. Vandoorne     P13
1:07.944 20 Laps     P12 (Group B)
1:08.257     P7 Grid: P12
FL: 1:08.917     P3 28 Points


#17 N. de Vries     P8
1:07.786 20 Laps     P1 (Final)
1:07.154     P10 Grid: P1
FL: 1:09.216     P2 29 Points

 


Stoffel Vandoorne:


"We started 12th on the grid today, so qualifying was the downside for me. I didn't manage to optimise the second run with the warm up and extracting the lap time when it mattered which meant I was further down the grid.


From there I think we had a solid race and a good recovery back to seventh with the fastest lap, maybe today was a little bit more difficult than yesterday in terms of the race pace we had but in general it was a well-executed race from my side of the garage. It was the best we could do in these circumstances so damage limitation today."
 



Nyck de Vries:


"In summary, we weren't quick enough today. Also, we might have been a little late in activating Attack Mode, which might also have been a factor in us dropping back a bit. It's tough when you're down on pace. On top of that, after contact, I lost four or five positions which was just too bad.


 In the end, though, it was down to us as I believe we simply weren't fast enough today. It all goes to prove once again that things can still go wrong, even if you've had a strong weekend up until that point. The window is very narrow and you can soon lose out as a result."
 




Ian James, Team Principal:

"Today has been a day of mixed emotion. We started off with a good pace in qualifying. Although Stoffel didn't fully manage to convert that into the result he would have hoped for, Nyck capitalised on the strong performance by claiming Pole Position - picking up where we left off yesterday.
 


In the race Nyck focussed on converting the qualifying result into a win. However, the race pace wasn't at the required level. This left us exposed and struggling to defend against the strong competition. Stoffel had another challenge on his hands, starting from P12 and pushing to make his way up through the field. He drove well to finish P7.
 


Even though this wasn't our race, it is fantastic to see the Venturis of Edo and Lucas both on the podium today. The strength of the Mercedes-EQ Powertrain over the course of the weekend gives a positive outlook for the season. Congratulations to the whole Venturi team!
 


We will spend time analysing the data and ensuring that we improve going forwards. This team knows how to bounce back and I'm already looking forward to the next race in Mexico, in two weeks' time.
 


Looking back at our time in Diriyah, it's good to go home after the first two rounds of the season with a healthy collection of points."



 
Sjoerd van Wijk - photos Mercedes