The second E-Prix of the season, held twenty-four hours after the inaugural round of the championship in Diriyahended with the statement of Edoardo Mortara, author of a victory gained at the end of a race full of twists. The Swiss of the Venturiafter losing the final in qualifying with Nyck De Vries, he conquered the top step of the podium after a compelling comeback in the medium-high ranking positions, guaranteeing success under the Safety Car after an accident involving Alexander Sims.
The controversy that arose on social networks about this ‘tasteless’ finish, especially when compared to Michael Masi’s stunts in F1 in Abu Dhabi, pushed Formula E on Twitter and to be clear: a full course yellow or a Safety Car in the last 40 minutes of the race does not the regulation entails an extension of the duration of the ePrix. However, a race that had started without particular upheavals in the top positions, except for Rowland’s overtaking on Da Costa for seventh position. For the rest, De Vries had firmly maintained his leadership despite a slight blocking in curve 1, not exploited by Mortara who, in turn, had in any case defended his place on Frjins. Over the next five minutes, Dennis and Rowland were the first to take advantage of theattack modewith a strategy that highlighted above all the fight between Di Grassi and Frijns for virtual third place.
As per our new Season 8 regulations, if a Full Course Yellow or Safety Car period goes into or takes place during or after the 40th minute of an E-Prix, additional time will not be added to the race.
– ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) January 29, 2022
The turning point of the race, however, occurred with the activation of the according to attack mode, inaugurated by the two pilots mentioned just a little less than half an hour after the end of the race. With the same move made by Mortara two laps later, the singular circumstance led the top four drivers in the standings to come into contact at the entrance to turn 1. De Vries – the only one not to activate the attack mode at that juncture – suffered at first the decided overtaking of Di Grassi, with a very similar maneuver realized at the same time by Mortara on Frijns. In this way, Di Grassi therefore took the lead ahead of Mortara, with De Vries third ahead of Frijns. Subsequently, it materializes the overtaking of the Swiss on Di Grassi, with an exchange of leadership signed by the Venturi pilots. In doing so, the Swiss thus leaps to the command of the race in front of his teammate, followed by De Vries and Frijns. Moreover, the latter also manages to recover the third position on his compatriot, in turn the author of a decisive mistake: the Mercedes driver pays the consequences in a wheel to wheel with Vergne, with the Frenchman of DS Techeetah in clear recovery to conquer the fourth position. The contact between the two forces De Vries to abandon the fight for top positions, even slipping into tenth position, at the limits of the points area. From that moment on, Frijns continued his comeback towards the top of the standings, jumping to second place after a good overtaking on Di Grassi. Less than ten minutes from the end, however, the Race Direction decrees the entry of the Safety Car for the Sims spinwhich took place between turns 11 and 12. Thanks to the attack mode strategies, Lotterer recovers up to fourth position, with the removal of Sims’ car not being able to be completed by the stewards before the end of the time.
Congratulations @edomortara! Our vice champion is the winner of Round 2 🏆⚡️@RFrijns finishes second place and @LucasdiGrassi completes the podium in third!
🇸🇦 2022 #DiriyahEPrix pic.twitter.com/vQkZM0nY6c
– ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) January 29, 2022
In this way, Mortara was the first to cross the finish line behind the Safety Car, taking his first win of the season ahead of Frijns and Di Grassi. Contrary to what happened in the inaugural stage of the world championship, Mercedes fails to go beyond the 7th place of Vandoorne, followed by the tenth place of the reigning champion De Vries. Last position for Antonio Giovinazzi. Formula E will be back on track with the third round of the season on February 12when theMexico City E-Prix on the Hermanos Rodriguez circuit.
E-Prix Diriyah-1 | Order of arrival
Pos. | Pilot | Team | Turns | Time / Gap | GpV |
1 | Edward MORTARA | Venturi | 35 | 47: 02.131 | 1: 09.203 |
2 | Robin FRIJNS | Envision | 35 | +0.451 | 1: 09.172 |
3 | Lucas OF FATS | Venturi | 35 | +0.912 | 1: 09.187 |
4 | André LOTTERER | Porsche | 35 | +1.125 | 1: 09.504 |
5 | Jake DENNIS | Andretti | 35 | +1.646 | 1: 09.206 |
6 | Jean-Eric VERGNE | DS Techeetah | 35 | +3.166 | 1: 09.060 |
7 | Stoffel VANDOORNE | Mercedes | 35 | +3.568 | 1: 08.917 |
8 | Oliver ROWLAND | Mahindra | 35 | +4.235 | 1: 09.249 |
9 | Pascal WEHRLEIN | Porsche | 35 | +4.962 | 1: 09.355 |
10 | Nyck DE VRIES | Mercedes | 35 | +5,294 | 1: 09.216 |
11 | Mitch EVANS | Jaguar | 35 | +5.872 | 1: 09.665 |
12 | Oliver ASKEW | Andretti | 35 | +6.732 | 1: 10.462 |
13 | Antonio Felix FROM THE COAST | DS Techeetah | 35 | +8.693 | 1: 09.186 |
14 | Sebastien BUEMI | Nissan e.dams | 35 | +9.015 | 1: 09.388 |
15 | Maximilian GÜNTHER | Nissan e.dams | 35 | +9.464 | 1: 09.318 |
16 | Sam BIRD | Jaguar | 35 | +11.690 | 1: 08.723 |
17 | Nick CASSIDY | Envision | 35 | +13.973 | 1: 09.054 |
18 | Antonio SEVEN-CAMARA | Dragon | 35 | +14.521 | 1: 09.754 |
19 | Oliver TURVEY | NIO 333 | 35 | +15.005 | 1: 09.688 |
20 | Dan TICKTUM | Nio 333 | 35 | +16.744 | 1: 09.879 |
21 | Antonio GIOVINAZZI | Dragon | 35 | +17.681 | 1: 09.842 |
– | Alexander SIMS | Mahindra | 35 | DNF | 1: 09.010 |
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