Nigh-on a year after Formula E concluded a heavily interrupted 2019/20 season with six races on three configurations of the Berlin Tempelhof circuit, the series concluded Season 7 with just the double-header – but an ambitious switch between anti-clockwise and clockwise configurations for the Saturday and Sunday races certainly didn’t give the track workers any rest.

The series also bid farewell to two huge German marquees on home soil with BMW and Audi pulling the plug on their support, whilst Mercedes announced their withdrawal after the conclusion of next season, leaving FE with a looming risk of a seriously reduced grid and some question marks for the future.

It was a truly unpredictable season, and having to wave goodbye to two teams gives the ending a rather emotional twist. Here are the final report cards for the 2020/21 Season.

Race 1 – Top of the class:

Lucas di Grassi – Qualifying: 3^rd | Race: 1^st

The Season 3 Champion has a solid track record in Berlin – taking six podiums in the 12 races that the city has hosted, including a victory in 2019. Lucas continued that good form in Race 1 by taking a well-deserved P3 in qualifying, as the Techeetah duo who locked out the front row were just a bit too quick to be caught.

In a race that brought about some Noah’s ark running, di Grassi utilised his experience and a rare showing of patience to tactically take his second victory of the season. With 21:22 left on the clock, Lucas barged past poleman Jean-Éric Vergne at turn 6 to take P2 and less than two minutes later he took the lead off the other Techeetah of António Félix da Costa into turn 1.

Whilst making both of those moves, he was also able to open the door for teammate René Rast to follow through whilst in Attack Mode, which saw Audi run with a 1-2 for a portion of the race.

Lucas then took his single Attack Mode with less than 18 minutes on the clock, dropping him to third behind the two ROKiT Venturis (which was a third different team to run with a 1-2 in the race). The Brazilian gained back the lead by passing Norman Nato at turn 6 and Edoardo Mortara into turn 1 with 12 minutes on the clock.

The Audi driver would lead the field over the line with a drag race to the line against Mortara. Di Grassi won by just 0.1 seconds but it was enough to move him up to 6^th in the Championship and a real shot at taking his second Championship.

With Audi leaving the sport and the ABT Schaeffler team seemingly failing to move forward as an independent entry next season, Lucas was essentially driving for his FE future and this was the perfect performance to showcase why he needs to stay.

Edoardo Mortara – Qualifying: 4^th | Race: 2^nd

Perhaps the surprise package of this season has been ROKiT Venturi’s Edoardo Mortara. The Swiss/Italian driver has been a constant figure in the paddock since Season 3, but has never featured in a Championship battle until this season.

With three podiums, including a win in Puebla race 2, Edoardo found himself 9^th in the Championship. He then catapulted himself up the order after a strong performance in Berlin race 1. Another Super Pole appearance rewarded Mortara with a P4 slot on the grid, whilst in the race he managed to rise up to lead the race at the midway stage by utilising his Attack Mode.

Whilst he dropped back behind di Grassi, he harried the Brazilian all the way to the line and just lost out on the drag race to the chequered flag. Finishing P2 moved Mortara to second in the Championship and only three points off de Vries, despite driving for a privateer team – Which is another remarkable accomplishment.

Jake Dennis – Qualifying: 8^th | Race: 5^th

It’s hard to believe that this time last year Jake Dennis had never stepped foot in a Formula E car. I have to admit, my eyebrows were raised when it was announced that BMW i Andretti had signed him for Season 7. How very wrong was I.

After a stellar weekend in London with his second victory of the season in Race 1, Jake continued down the same line with a really strong qualifying despite being in Group 1. He qualified 8^th and was less than a tenth off an unlikely Super Pole appearance, this he managed after topping both Free Practice sessions as well.

In the race, Dennis largely had a quiet run but was able to take advantage of Techeetah’s race pace struggles to finish the race 5^th. That meant that Dennis was just four points behind Championship leader Nyck de Vries heading into the final race. Which is simply an extraordinary achievement.

The single Attack Mode activation

The vast majority of Formula E races utilise two Attack Mode periods for four minutes. In the previous round in London there was a slight change to this, allowing for two bursts of eight minutes. I felt it rather stifled the entertainment as pretty much the entire field used it at the same time.

The first Berlin race had one activation for eight minutes – and I think it worked a treat. It gave the race a far more strategic edge, with drivers rapidly rising and falling through the field depending on what stage of the race they used it.

Take René Rast for example, the Audi driver was 12^th when he took his Attack Mode. When his eight minutes were finished, he was 2^nd and only just behind his teammate di Grassi after picking off most of the leading pack. Yet, because he took his quite early, the German fell back down to 9^th by the chequered flag.

It certainly was a gamble, but I think it certainly paid off. It’s given the series another way to make the races more varied in a far fairer way than the qualifying format for example. Hopefully for Season 8, we get to see more diverse utilisation of Attack Mode

The struggle bus:

Pascal Wehrlein – Qualifying: 9^th | Race: 21^st

Pascal has really dominated the team battle against André Lotter at Tag Heure Porsche, as he once again outqualified his teammate. However, his race unravelled in quite stupid, dare I say silly, circumstances as he went to defend his position against Nissan e.dams’ Oliver Rowland.

The Brit was in his Attack Mode, so I don’t understand why Wehrlein felt the need to be so aggressive in defending, but it caused him a puncture as the two made contact into turn 7. This with over 30 minutes left in the race.

Pascal limped home to the pits but his race was ultimately over, the German would finish down in 21^st and effectively ended any realistic chance of fighting for the Championship.

Stoffel Vandoorne – Qualifying: 22^nd | Race: 12^th

A few drivers had similar days to Stoffel. Meaning that they had the capabilities of winning races but qualified much further down the grid than they should. Teammate de Vries is also in this category, but Vandoorne makes the struggle bus because he was in Group 3 Qualifying and ultimately had a worse performance.

The Belgian was a lowly 22^nd with only Robin Frijns (Envision Virgin) and Joel Eriksson (Dragon / Penske) behind him. I do give him credit for making progress in the race by climbing 10 places, but a better qualifying could have seen Vandoorne score decent points in race 1 and would have resurrected an (albeit slim) chance of fighting for the Championship.

Race 2 – Top of the class:

Nyck de Vries – Qualifying: 12^th | Race: 8^th

The first-ever Formula E World Champion cashed in on a huge slice of luck (or bad luck for the contenders ahead of him) to score the points necessary to take home his second championship title in three years after winning the Formula 2 Championship in 2019.

Starting 12^th is a relatively decent result for Group 1 Qualifying, but the Championship was largely decided into two laps. Firstly, Jaguar’s Mitch Evans stalled after the lights went out and was rear-ended by Mortara, leaving both of them out of the race. On the restart Jake Dennis crashed out at turn 1. Which meant that some of Nyck’s biggest championship rivals were wiped out from competing.

Despite an admittedly easier path to glory, Nyck had to ensure he crossed the line in a somewhat decent position as a number of drivers were still in contention. The Dutchie ran as high as 4^th after using Attack Mode, but was then engaged in an aggressive battle with the two Porsches, Mahindra’s Alexander Simms and Nissan’s Oliver Rowland.

Although de Vries was involved in a fair amount of contact, he managed to cross the line in 8^th, which was good enough to seal the title in his second year in the series, becoming the first Dutch World Champion in motorsport.

You’d have to say that Nyck did deserve the title. Especially in a year where no driver could find any consistency. That was largely down to the qualifying format, but also generally how much more competitive the majority of the teams are compared to last season. What the future looks like for Nyck couldn’t tell you, but it’s certainly adding fuel to the rumours of a switch to F1 for 2022.

Norman Nato – Qualifying: 6^th | Race: 1^st

If I could allow the article to run longer than the short novel I’ve already constructed about this race weekend, Norman would have had a double appearance in the top of the class list after his P4 in race 1. He backed up his best recorded finish with a debut victory in race 2. It may have come too late to save his seat, with rumours of di Grassi being rescued from unemployment following Audi’s withdrawal, but it’s not a bad way to finish your rookie season. It will certainly give his CV a boost, as a driver is only ever as good as their last race.

The Frenchman made it into Super Pole for both Berlin rounds, but unfortunately he couldn’t set a time in that session so would have start 6^th. After the start line dramas that eliminated most of the title contenders in front of him, Nato was up to fourth.

Whilst the early Attack Mode strategy didn’t work for race 1, it did in race 2, as Nato was the first of the leading pack to take it. He took the lead of polesitter Vandoorne into turn 1 with 30 minutes left and he simply didn’t look back from there.

Norman withstood the pressure of a Safety Car restart for the stricken Techeetah of da Costa to win his first Formula E race. The victory meant that of the 25 drivers that had taken part this season, 20 of them stood on the podium. Nato finished 18^th overall in the Championship, but should be proud of the progress made this year. Hopefully he will still find himself on the grid for next season.

Stoffel Vandoorne – Qualifying: 1^st (+topped Group Qualifying) | Race: 3^rd

With his Championship bid over, Stoffel bounced back on Sunday with a comfortable double in topping both Group Qualifying and Super Pole. His race wasn’t perfect, as at one point the Belgian driver dropped down to sixth, and with a mistake at turn 7 he allowed Rowland past.

However, he was able to climb back up to third which is where he would finish the race. His fourth podium of the season. It may have been a disappointing ending as he’d shown strong pace all day, but the Belgian took home a vital 19 points which (coupled with de Vries efforts on Sunday) secured Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team the Teams’ Title. Skating by with just being 4 points ahead of Jaguar.

It’s been a season of what ifs for Stoffel; had he not been punted out of the lead in London race 2 we would likely be talking about the Belgian being the Season 7 Champion. Nonetheless, he contributed significantly to Mercedes sealing the Teams Championship, so he has a solid foundation to build on next season.

Tom Blomqvist – Qualifying: 5^th | Race: 10^th

NIO 333 haven’t had much to cheer about this year, as they had to deal with another season where they have been rooted to the back of the grid. The team was running extra thin after a positive COVID test left a skeleton crew for the final weekend in Berlin. One beacon of light has been Tom’s uptick in form, and better yet, Tempelhof is a venue he knows well after starring for Jaguar at the end of last season.

Blomqvist managed to outqualify teammate Oliver Turvey for a fourth consecutive race, and surprisingly he even made it into Super Pole. Had he replicated his Group Qualifying time then he would have been able to start on the front row, but instead he had to settle for fifth. Which, considering the situation, is still a decent performance.

It’s not surprising that Blomqvist went backwards in the race, the car just isn’t up to scratch compared to the rest of the grid, but he held on for a well-deserved point. Which will only help his case for remaining on the grid next season.

NIO 333’s plans for Season 8 are unclear. The team has committed to the Gen3 era coming in for the 2022/23 season. Whoever will form their line-up will likely be in for another tough season however, as the team are stranded in no man’s land, as even 11^th placed Dragon / Penske have managed to put some daylight between them.

The struggle bus:

Mitch Evans’ Jaguar car

Things were looking great for Mitch on Sunday; the Jaguar driver was 9 positions clear of de Vries and just five points behind him in the Championship. One could argue the Kiwi had quite an advantage when heading into the race.

Just when you thought it was looking all rosy for Mitch, the championship title brushing his outstretched fingertips, his car fails. Not only that, but his race is most definitely over because an unsighted Mortara has just smashed into the back of him. It was such a heart-breaking way to see Mitch and Edoardo’s Championship hopes crumble within the first seconds of the race, he certainly deserved a real shot.

With teammate Sam Bird stopping on Saturday, these reliability issues will be a cause of concern for Jaguar for the future. This because with the current regulations all of the teams will be carrying over their powertrains into next season.

Despite the disappointment, you have to commend both the drivers and the team. This was by far Jaguar’s strongest season to date as they scored 8 podiums, which include two victories for Sam. Evans and Bird finished fourth and sixth overall in the Driver’s Standings and the team itself finished just 4 points behind Mercedes. Overall, the squad should be confident for Season 8.

Jake Dennis – Qualifying: 9^th | Race: DNF

Jake Dennis found himself in prime position to be the driver to rival de Vries for the Championship after the Evans/Mortara shunt. However, Jake threw it all away just seconds after the race resumed.

After restarting under the Safety Car following the red flag, Dennis was battling Nissan’s Sébastien Buemi. The BMW i Andretti driver locked up and swerved into the wall on the entry to turn 1, retiring on the spot with suspension damage.

Jake was distraught with the error, but it won’t take away from what is without a doubt the best debut season in Formula E history. Two wins and finishing in P3 in the Driver’s Standings, just 8 points behind de Vries, is a phenomenal achievement.

Jake has been rewarded with a contract extension with Andretti, and it certainly will be interesting to see if the partnership will thrive after BMW’s exit.

After a crazy and unpredictable season, we’ve got a couple of months off with Season 8 not due to have its first race until January 2022. So, in the meantime; stay tuned for all the latest updates and gossip regarding FE and other Motorsport divisions.