Formula E | De Vries-Vandoorne, Mercedes dominates in Diriyah

Mercedes kicks off the 2022 Formula E season with a double in the first Diriyah E-Prix thanks to the success of Nyck De Vries in front of teammate Stoffel Vandoorne.

The Dutchman, who started third on the grid, made the most of the shot from the clean side of the Arab track to immediately put himself behind his colleague poleman, who then at the second moment of exploiting the additional power of Attack Mode missed the zone of activation, thus having to make the move again in the following round and giving the green light to the reigning Champion.

In fact, the two Silver Arrows never suffered the competition, not even when the race was neutralized by the entry of the Safety Car, due to Oliver Rowland going out on the wall, knocked out by Robin Frijns while the two fought in the rear. . Obviously the latter was sanctioned with a Drive-Through.

Said of the 1-2 of the German brand, it was a struggle up to 10 ‘from the end for the podium. Having lost second place at the start, Jake Dennis also saw André Lotterer parade during the race. However, having decidedly more, the Andretti standard bearer pressed the rival Porsche for a long time.

Lotterer first told him no by closing the door, then he took advantage of a ‘long’ at the British’s turn 1, but on the third attempt he overtook the German going to complete the podium.

For his part, Lotterer has literally collapsed, also being parked by the other opponents in the final stages and even finding himself out of the Top 10.

Sam Bird finishes fourth with the Jaguar, followed by a Lucas Di Grassi in comeback with his Venturi, while Nick Cassidy loses sixth place in the sprint at the hands of Edoardo Mortara, who mocked the Envision Virgin boy and redeems the bitter Qualification with a good comeback, also showing the supremacy of Mercedes-powered cars with the second Venturi.

Eighth was Jean-Eric Vergne’s DS-Techeetah, the only survivor of the Chinese team who lost Antonio-Felix Da Costa to technical problems on the first lap.

Oliver Askew (Andretti) and Mitchell Evans in the second Jaguar complete the Top10 in extremis, out of which remain the Porsche driven by Pascal Wehrlein, the Nissan e-Dams of Maxi Guenther, Lotterer, the Mahindra of Alex Sims, Sergio Sette-Camara ( Dragon Penske), Frijns, Sébastien Buemi (Nissan e-Dams) and the NIO 333s of Dan Ticktum and Oliver Turvey.

Antonio Giovinazzi’s first race ends with a 20th and last place, the result of his lack of experience at the wheel of a not exactly lightning-fast Dragon Penske car, even if at times the Apulian managed to cross arms with Ticktum.