The so-called “Jewel in the Crown” twinkled in front of four drivers today, with many lead changes throughout the race. Antonio Felix Da Costa (DS Techeetah), Robin Frijns (Envision Virgin Racing), Mitch Evans (Jaguar Racing), and Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Techeetah) all played follow the leader, as the Attack Mode activation strategies came into play.
Felix Da Costa was ultimately the winner. He set up an overtake on race leader Mitch Evans during the last three laps, and passed the Kiwi driver on the very last lap, in the second half of the Nouvelle Chicane out of the tunnel, to score the victory. DS Techeetah scored a great number of points, with Felix Da Costa scoring twenty-eight points and Jean-Eric Vergne thirteen. This puts the DS Techeetah team in front of the Envision Virgin Racing team and kicks off last year’s champions bid for the overall victory this season.
The first appearance of the full Circuit de Monaco track in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship was chaotic, to say the least. A lot of overtaking in the modified Nouvelle Chicane, and some in the original 1929 design Saint Devote corner.
While Felix Da Costa and Evans were fighting, third-place driver Robin Frijns kept close to them and passed Evans at the finish line, dropping him from second to third. Frijns scored nineteen points this weekend, effectively putting him on top of the driver’s championship, ahead of Nyck de Vries (Mercedes-EQ Formula E) and Stoffel Vandoorne (Mercedes-EQ). Frijns’ teammate Nick Cassidy held his ground in seventh for most of the race and only lost one position to Sam Bird (Jaguar Racing).
The two Mercedes drivers had a poor weekend, with both drivers failing to score any points at all. Nyck De Vries was dropped to the back of the grid after qualifying, as three separate incidents happened. In group qualifying, a problem with a steering wheel button lost him his 250 kWh lap and put him at the back of Group one, with the three other Groups still to run. During his outlap, he also “brake-checked” Sam Bird (Jaguar Racing) according to Bird’s team radio. This compromised Bird’s lap in the Jaguar I-Type 5, who qualified fifteenth where his teammate qualified third. The final incident was a powertrain change for De Vries, as he was already at the back of the grid, which gave him a forty-place grid penalty. His teammate Vandoorne did not fare better, qualifying fourteenth but not finishing the race. Both drivers slid down a couple of places in the championship, to second and sixth respectively.
Jaguar Racing’s pace in practice seemed to have confirmed itself: Sam Bird was able to utilize the pace of his car to climb back into the points-paying position of seventh. Jaguar scored a total of twenty-one points, putting them two points off the leaders Mercedes-EQ. Before this race, they were twenty-three points behind and fully capitalized on Mercedes’ poor performance.
Rene Rast (Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler) hit the wall on the exit of Sainte Devote corner while trying a pass on Nick Cassidy, but it ended his race. The race marshals had to roll him down back the hill towards the pitlane. This was eight minutes before the end of the race. His teammate Lucas Di Grassi had an uneventful weekend, finishing just inside the points in tenth.
The TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E team had another bad weekend, with Andre Lotterer being dropped to seventeenth after the race for causing a collision. His fellow German teammate Pascal Wehrlein did not finish the race. The TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E team is very inconsistent this season: they will either score a big amount of points or none at all. This is their second season in Formula E, and they have not yet scored a victory, only three podiums so far.
Oliver Rowland finished in the top ten at the end of the race, scoring good points for the Nissan e.dams team. They brought a new powertrain to Monaco, but it seemed to have worked better at the checkered flag for Rowland than for Sebastien Buemi. He finished in eleventh.
Mahindra Racing and BMW i Andretti Motorsport had a mixed weekend in Monaco, with one driver in the points and one not finishing the race. Both Jake Dennis and Alexander Sims were involved in a collision in the Grand Hotel hairpin. This was similar to the Monegasque team ROKiT Venturi Racing‘s race result: they did not have a good home race, as both Edoardo Mortara and Norman Nato finished outside the points twelfth and thirteenth position respectively.
This was a thrilling Formula E race in the Principality of Monaco. The next race will take place in Puebla, Mexico on 19/20 June 2021 for another double-header race weekend.
Final classification
POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME/GAP |
1 | 13 | Antonio Felix Da Costa | POR | DS Techeetah | 26 LAPS |
2 | 4 | Robin Frijns | NLD | Envision Virgin Racing | + 2.848 |
3 | 20 | Mitch Evans | NZL | Jaguar Racing | + 2.872 |
4 | 25 | Jean-Eric Vergne | FRA | DS Techeetah | + 3.120 |
5 | 28 | Maxilimilian Günther | GER | BMW i Andretti Motorsport | + 3.270 |
6 | 22 | Oliver Rowland | GBR | Nissan e.dams | + 3.865 |
7 | 10 | Sam Bird | GBR | Jaguar Racing | + 4.150 |
8 | 37 | Nick Cassidy | NZL | Envision Virgin Racing | + 4.752 |
9 | 94 | Alex Lynn | GBR | Mahindra Racing | + 5.759 |
10 | 11 | Lucas Di Grassi | BRZ | Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler | + 6.225 |
11 | 23 | Sebastien Buemi | CHE | Nissan e.dams | + 6.567 |
12 | 48 | Edoardo Mortara | CHE | ROKiT Venturi Racing | + 7.097 |
13 | 71 | Norman Nato | FRA | ROKiT Venturi Racing | + 8.507 |
14 | 88 | Tom Blomqvist | GBR | NIO 333 Racing | + 9.240 |
15 | 7 | Sergio Sette Camara | BRZ | Dragon/Penske Autosport | + 9.499 |
16 | 27 | Jake Dennis | GBR | BMW i Andretti Motorsport | + 9.822 |
17 | 36 | Andre Lotterer | GER | TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E | + 10.503 |
18 | 6 | Nico Müller | CHE | Dragon/Penske Autosport | + 11.450 |
19 | 8 | Oliver Turvey | GBR | NIO 333 Racing | + 12.067 |
20 | 17 | Nyck de Vries | NLD | Mercedes-EQ Formula E | Retired |
21 | 99 | Pascal Wehrlein | GER | TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E | Retired |
22 | 5 | Stoffel Vandoorne | BEL | Mercedes-EQ Formula E | Retired |
23 | 33 | Rene Rast | GER | Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler | Retired |
24 | 29 | Alexander Sims | GBR | Mahindra Racing | Retired |