Formula E

Stoffel Vandoorne claims Formula E Season Eight World Championship as Mortara wins Seoul finale

4 Mins read
Credit: LAT Images courtesy of FIA Formula E

Stoffel Vandoorne is the ABB FIA Formula E World Drivers’ Champion of Season Eight, after finishing in second-place at the Seoul E-Prix season finale. Edoardo Mortara won the final race of the season after a dominant display, with Jake Dennis rounding-off the final podium of the season. Mitch Evans claimed second in the championship, after finishing seventh.

Mortara makes the perfect start

After ten cities and sixteen races it all came down to the final race of the season, Vandoorne against Evans for the Season Eight Drivers’ Championship. Vandoorne qualified fourth, with Evans in thirteenth, leaving the New Zealander with it all to do.

With António Félix Da Costa on pole, the Portuguese driver made an excellent start to the one-hundredth Formula E race; however, contact-madness pursued behind. Virtually all the drivers came to a halt due to an onslaught of contact, somehow they all made it out okay with little damage. Sérgio Sette Câmara was one of the only drivers to suffer quite a lot of damage from the incident. André Lotterer, Dan Ticktum and Oliver Rowland all retired from the race in the opening few minutes.

The race lead quickly changed, as Mortara pulled off a superb move on Da Costa to take the race lead, with Dennis following the Swiss driver through to take second. It quickly became clear that Da Costa didn’t have the pace to win, as the DS Techeetah driver dropped well behind Mortara and Dennis. In the championship fight, Vandoorne remained in fourth, whereas after twelve minutes Evans had made his way to ninth but needed to make his way to first to claim the title.

Pascal Wehrlein and Nyck de Vries became the fourth and fifth retirements of the final race of the season, after the pair collided with one another. With the conditions being completely dry, the complete opposite of Race One, gaps in the field started to rapidly appear. Mortara and Dennis created a healthy gap to those behind, with the opening lap midfield carnage having dropped the majority of the field a good distance behind the top five.

So after the first third of the race, Mortara led from Dennis, with Vandoorne still in fourth and Evans in ninth.

Credit: Sam Bloxham courtesy of FIA Formula E

Safety Car gives Evans lifeline

It was heartbreak for Lucas Di Grassi, after becoming the first driver in Formula E to have scored over a thousand points in Race One, the Brazilian suffered a disappointing puncture dropping him all the way down to fourteenth. It meant that even with Mortara leading the race, the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team were on-track to win the Constructors’ Championship.

Di Grassi’s puncture moved Evans up to eighth; however, the Jaguar TCS Racing driver got exactly what he needed with twenty-three minutes remaining, as a full Safety Car was deployed to rescue a stricken Maximilian Günther, who came to a halt on the circuit. The German became the sixth retirement of the final race with the Gen2 cars. The disappointment for Evans is that he still had an active attack mode when the Safety Car was deployed, meaning it became in-affective.

Dennis and Da Costa collide

With fifteen minutes remaining, the Safety Car peeled back into the pits, allowing Mortara to bunch up the remaining sixteen drivers, in what was becoming a race of survival. Mortara timed the restart well and quickly pulled almost a second on Dennis, allowing him to dive across to activate his attack mode. Whilst Mortara did everything perfectly, Dennis and Da Costa made contact behind. Dennis defended strongly from Da Costa, who had attack mode.

The Portuguese driver went around the outside of the British driver, but a slight tap by Dennis sent Da Costa into the wall; however, Dennis was given no space by the DS Techeetah driver. All this allowed Vandoorne up to third and Evans up to seventh, Da Costa dropped to the back of the grid. Gaps again began to quickly appear throughout the field, with Mortara building a huge gap at the front.

As the season ticked into the final five minutes, everything somewhat calmed down, with Vandoorne looking all but set to become the Season Eight World Champion. With Vandoorne behind Dennis, the Belgian driver just had to remain within five seconds of the Avalanche Andretti FE Team driver, as it was announced that Dennis had been awarded a five-second time penalty for the earlier collision with Da Costa.

Speaking of Da Costa, he made a great move on Norman Nato for thirteenth, with the injured Sam Bird‘s replacement dropping to fifteenth. Da Costa was quickly past Alexander Sims and Di Grassi, elevating him to eleventh.

As the final minutes of added time ticked away, Mortara remained in complete control of the race with Dennis and Vandoorne well behind in the distance. Evans’ title fight yet again looked set to end at the final hurdle, as the Jaguar driver couldn’t find a way past Jean-Éric Vergne for sixth. Elsewhere, Sette Câmara was awarded a five-second penalty for changing direction whilst defending too many times.

Credit: Sam Bloxham courtesy of FIA Formula E

Vandoorne seals championship

As Mortara started the final lap of the season and the final lap of the Gen2 era of Formula E, the Swiss driver cruised round to claim a well deserved victory. However, all eyes were behind Mortara, as Vandoorne crossed the line in third (but inherited second due to Dennis’ penalty) to claim the Drivers’ World Championship with Mercedes-EQ claiming the Constructors’ Championship. Robin Frijns crossed the line in fourth, with Oliver Askew in fifth, Vergne sixth and a gutted Evans in seventh, who claimed second in the championship.

It was the perfect way for Mercedes-EQ to end their Formula E journey, with the side leaving Formula E and being replaced by McLaren for Season Nine. As the cameras rolled to the garages, Mercedes-EQ were jubilant, Jaguar were understandably despondent. Vandoorne celebrated wildly in Parc Férme, with Dennis who remarkably managed to finish third after building a big enough gap at the end.

And that’s your lot, Formula E returns for Season Nine with the brand new Gen3 cars early in 2023, with testing taking place at the end of 2022.

Seoul E-Prix Round 16 Full Results:

POS.NO.NAME.NAT.TEAM.TIME/GAP.
148Edoardo MortaraCHEROKIT Venturi Racing53:31.680
25Stoffel VandoorneBELMercedes-EQ Formula E Team+3.756
327Jake DennisGBRAvalanche Andretti FE Team+6.649
44Robin FrijnsNEDEnvision Racing+7.021
528Oliver AskewUSAAvalanche Andretti FE Team+7.850
625Jean-Éric VergneFRADS Techeetah+9.471
79Mitch EvansNZLJaguar TCS Racing+10.243
837Nick CassidyNZLEnvision Racing+14.208
923Sébastian BuemiCHENissan E.DAMS+16.629
1013António Félix Da CostaPORDS Techeetah+22.226
1111Lucas Di GrassiBRZROKIT Venturi Racing+24.546
1229Alexander SimsGBRMahindra Racing+26.513
137Sérgio Sette CâmaraBRZDragon/Penske Autosport+27.813
1410Norman NatoFRAJaguar TCS Racing+31.526
153Oliver TurveyGBRNIO 333 FE Team+31.565
1699Sacha FenestrazFRADragon/Penske Autosport+36.270
1722Maximilian GüntherGERNissan E.DAMSDNF
1817Nyck de VriesNEDMercedes-EQ Formula E TeamDNF
1994Pascal WehrleinGERTAG Heuer Porsche Formula E TeamDNF
2033Dan TicktumGBRNIO 333 FE TeamDNF
2130Oliver RowlandGBRMahindra RacingDNF
2236André LottererGERTAG Heuer Porsche Formula E TeamDNF
Norman Nato replaced an injured Sam Bird and Sacha Fenestraz replaced an injured Antonio Giovinazzi

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