Formula E returned to Rome, a paddock favourite, after an enforced year absence from the Italian capital. The Circuito Cittadino dell’EUR has had a revamp for 2021 to make it the second longest track in Formula E history (behind the forgettable effort in Beijing), but there was predictable carnage from start to finish. Here are those who had stellar performances and weekends to forget in Rome:
Race 1 – Top of the Class:
Jean-Éric Vergne – Qualifying: 5th | Race: 1st
If you were to tell JEV that he would be winning the Rome ePrix after the end of FP1, he probably would have laughed at you. It was unbelievable that Techeetah were able to repair the car in time for qualifying, considering the damage caused by the crashed caused by NIO 333’s Oliver Turvey.
Vergne qualified a decent 5th place having made it to Super Pole, and largely drove his own race and avoided the carnage around him that kicked off when the top 2 (Stoffel Vandoorne and André Lotterer) collided at lap 7 on the first racing lap after the safety car start.
Having led the mid stages of the race, the two-time Champion slipped back behind Audi’s Lucas di Grassi before inheriting the lead after a mechanical failure for the Brazilian with five minutes left of the race. Vergne would win the race as it finished under safety car after di Grassi’s slowing Audi triggered a crash that took out the two Mercedes from the race on the run to turn 7.
Was it Vergne’s best performance in Formula E, far from it, but it showed the virtues of keeping calm when others around you lose theirs. It was just the introduction Techeetah needed for their new DS E-Tense FE21 powertrain having raced last season’s package at the Ad Diriyah double header in February.
Sam Bird – Qualifying: 11th (started 10th) | Race: 2nd
Off the back of his win in Ad Diriyah race 2, Sam had a decent start in Rome. With tricky damp conditions, qualifying 11th was a decent result considering the Jaguar driver was in Group 1. Sam was elevated to 10th after Maximilian Günther took a five-place grid penalty lingering from colliding with NIO 333’s Tom Blomqvist in Ad Diriyah race 2.
Bird’s race is a classic case study for André Lotterer on how to overtake, with Sam putting a number of daring, yet clean, overtakes on the likes of Robin Frijns (Envision Virgin) and Lotterer himself. With smart use of Attack Mode along with teammate Mitch Evans, the Jaguar duo had worked their way up to 3rd and 4th respectively before di Grassi’s issue.
Bird evaded the carnage to come home 2nd, and would have been a serious threat for race victory had it not finished under safety car. The 18-points haul meant that Sam took the Championship lead, with Evans’ 3rd place rounding off Jaguar’s first double podium in Formula E.
Lucas di Grassi – Qualifying: 4th | Race: DNF
I don’t like to use the term lightly, but Lucas di Grassi was robbed of victory in race 1. Considering the Season 3 Champion’s struggles in qualifying, di Grassi did well to catapult his Audi into 4th and deserved to win having led much of the race.
The Brazilian led through a combination of first lap collision and drive through penalties for his nearest rivals, but would drop down to third during the first Attack Mode phase. He dispatched Envision Virgin’s Robin Frijns at turn 4 with 17:24 left on the race clock to retake second and took back the lead on the next tour when Vergne (Techeetah) armed his first Attack Mode.
With 14:30 left on the clock, di Grassi took his second Attack Mode, again dropping down from P1 to P3. He retook 2nd when Nyck de Vries went for his second Attack Mode, then retook the lead with less than 7 minutes left with a bold move up the inside of Vergne at turn 4.
The Audi driver looked set to take his first victory since the 2018 Berlin ePrix when his driveshaft failed a lap later, causing his retirement from the race and setting off carnage behind. It was a heart-breaking end to his race and a potential huge boost for his Championship chances faded.
Stoffel Vandoorne – Qualifying: 1st | Race: DNF
The racing gods were really against Stoffel in Race 1. Whilst finishing 3rd in Group Qualifying, Vandoorne rose to the top in Super Pole by nearly two tenths. His race started badly as he was barged into the runoff by Porsche’s Andre Lotterer on the first racing lap after the safety start, dropping down to 13th.
The Mercedes driver fought back well and with a combination of Fanboost and Attack Mode, made it back to fifth with relative ease. However, his race would end under such unlucky circumstances as the Belgian caught a bump in the road avoiding the stricken di Grassi.
Stoffel had no control as all four wheels left the ground and the Mercedes hit the wall and breaking the rear suspension, with teammate Nyck de Vries hitting the wall in sympathy. Their races ended on the spot and a potential podium was lost. Stoffel was blameless for both incidents and deserved some reward for his strong qualifying and race pace, yet came away with nothing.
The struggle bus:
Oliver Turvey – Qualifying: DNQ | Race: DNS
Captaining the struggle bus is Oliver Turvey. The NIO 333 driver triggered the FP1 crash that caused significant damage for himself, Jean-Éric Vergne (Techeetah) and Jake Dennis (BMW i Andretti), whilst a number of other cars received minor damage as the British driver ploughed into the back of cars waiting to do practice starts.
Turvey’s car couldn’t be repaired in time to qualify or race on Saturday, and was hit with a pit lane start (which he took on Sunday) and 6 penalty points. Whilst Oliver admitted that forgetting about drivers doing the practice starts there, I feel the excessive penalty is the Formula E stewards saving face because it was an accident waiting to happen.
It was simply a weekend to forget for the British driver, who had a tremendous weekend in Ad Diriyah, at least he can bounce back in less than two weeks in Valencia.
André Lotterer – Qualifying 2nd | Race: 14th
The move on Vandoorne was late and I think the penalty was fair because André was never making the corner. It was unnecessary to make it on the first racing lap when there was another 40 minutes + 1 lap of potential racing to do it. His race would unravel from there, slipping to the lower ranks of the top 10 after sustaining front wing damage.
The five second penalty ultimately dropped Lotterer down to 14th having crossed the line 9th, as the race finished under the safety car. It’s a shame as the German qualified well but finished out of the points for a third consecutive race in Season 7.
Whoever decided to put the start line between turns 6 and 7
The position of the start line for this edition of the Rome ePrix was dumb. It would not have mattered whether rain affected the weekend or not, there was not a chance that 24 Formula E cars would have made it through turn 7 on the first lap.
It’s baffling considering there were two longer and wider straights with more open corners that could have been used, particularly between turns 11 and 12 would have been a better option. Instead, a lot of the excitement was diluted as both races started under the Safety Car.
The start line placement was also a significant contributing factor to the FP1 incident as the grid is blind on entry to the kink at turn 6. Overall, it wasn’t the finest weekend for FE logistics.
Race 2 – Top of the Class:
Stoffel Vandoorne – Qualifying: 4th | Race: 1st (+ FL)
We love a character arc and Stoffel certainly had one in Rome. From a desperately unlucky Saturday to a pretty dominant victory on Sunday. The Mercedes driver qualified 4th and was already up to third on the first racing lap after polesitter Nick Cassidy span out from the lead.
With 35 minutes left the Belgian sent it down the insider of ROKiT Venturi’s Norman Nato into the Marconi hairpin at turn 15 to take second. The Belgian then took the lead with 30 minutes to go, undercutting Pascal Wehrlein as the Porsche driver went for a precautionary use of his first Attack Mode. A Safety Car was looming after an incident between Lucas di Grassi and Sébastien Buemi daw the former spin into the wall on the run between turn 6 and 7, coming to a stop in the runoff of turn 7 with broken front suspension.
From there, Vandoorne dominated and held a comfortable six second lead for the majority of the race, until a late safety car for the stricken Audi of René Rast closed up the pack. Stoffel’s experience showed as a slow restart ensured a 1-lap dash to the flag, and Vandoorne used his Fanboost to pull clear and take his second victory in the space of five races dating back to Berlin last season.
After the disappointment of race 1, this was exactly the result he needed and re-emphasised Mercedes are one of the teams to beat this season. They have both exceptional one lap and race pace and become the first team to win a race with both drivers in Season 7.
Alexander Sims – Qualifying: 6th | Race: 2nd
Compared to Season 6 it had been a forgettable start to the new season for Alexander Sims. A 7th and 15th place finishes from Ad Diriyah was followed by an early retirement in race 1 with collision damage. However, the Mahindra driver bounced back on Sunday.
He made his first Super Pole appearance and qualified 6th for the race. The British driver despatched Maximilian Günther (BMW i Andretti) and Norman Nato (ROKiT Venturi) in the early stages and settled in P3.
Then, after the first safety car restart following the di Grassi/Buemi incident, Sims mugged Wehrlein with the Porsche driver reacting slowly to the green flag up the hill to turn 7. From there, Sims stayed in P2 for the remainder of the race and claimed his first podium since his victory in Ad Diriyah race 2 back in November 2019.
The result moves Sims into P9 in the Championship whilst his team move up from 11th to 7th in the Team’s standings.
António Félix da Costa – Qualifying: 15th | Race: 7th
Saturday was a write off for the reigning Champion with his race ending on the penultimate lap with a puncture. Race 2 looked to be just as bad as the Portuguese driver qualified a lowkey 15th with the new Techeetah struggling in the wet conditions.
In a similar vein to Vergne on Saturday, da Costa simply drove his own race and tended to avoid the drama around him. He had a race long battle amongst the Jaguar duo of Sam Bird and Mitch Evans for much of the race before closing in on the top 6 near the climax.
Evans got back ahead of da Costa before the late race safety car intervention, but the pair were ahead of the crash triggered by de Vries behind them. P7 is still a decent result and the type of performance that keeps drivers in Championship contention.
The struggle bus:
Nyck de Vries – Qualifying: 18th (started 17th) | Race: DNF
Unlucky in race 1, but the Dutchman’s downfall in race 2 was entirely his own doing, which is why Nyck de Vries is race 2’s struggle bus driver. A below par qualifying left Nyck starting in 17th. Having made it back into the top 10, Nyck threw that away twice, firstly locking up into turn 4 and going deep into the runoff midway through the race.
Then, on the final lap, de Vries lost it on the bumps into turn 7 and clattered into the side of Jaguar’s Sam Bird whilst battling over 10th place, with Nissan’s Oliver Rowland also caught up in the incident. Both de Vries and Bird retired due to damage with Nyck picking up a five-place grid penalty for the first Valencia race as the stewards deemed him at fault.
To make matters worse, de Vries would have picked up a minimum of 9th place and fastest lap point because of penalties for drivers in front, instead he came away from Rome pointless. The Mercedes driver also drops from the Championship leader to 6th in the space of two races.
Oliver Rowland – Qualifying: 8th | Race: 16th
Another driver in the wars this weekend was Oliver Rowland. First race saw the Nissan driver lead the early stages before being given a drive through penalty for overuse of power. Whilst the race 1 issues were out of control, the ones in race 2 were entirely his own making.
P8 was a respectable qualifying performance but that was quickly undone when the Yorkshireman stuffed it up the inside of Envision Virgin’s Nick Cassidy into turn 16. The move was never going to come off because Rowland was barely alongside the New Zealander, and the Envision Virgin driver was forced into the barriers.
Rowland finished the race in 8th having survived the late contact between de Vries and Bird, but he had a 10 second time penalty lingering for most of the race, dropping down to 16th as a result. Having finished the Ad Diriyah double header in the top 10, Rowland finished 12th and 16th in Rome, taking a singular point for topping group qualifying for race 1.
Nick Cassidy – Qualifying: 1st | Race: DNF
From hero to zero in the space of three corners, it was a character-building race 2 for Cassidy. The Kiwi span at turn 3 on the first racing lap, dropping down to 10th. He had recovered quickly to eighth before being punted into the wall by Rowland. Whilst he was blameless for the second incident, the spin from the lead really started Cassidy’s downfall.
It could have been a handsome points haul for the New Zealander after storming to pole in a damp qualifying on Sunday morning, instead he came away with just the three points. To rub salt into the wounds he was given a post-race penalty for failing to use all three attack modes, though he retired on the final lap anyway.
After a six-week break between Ad Diriyah and Rome, the next race is less than a fortnight away. FE is also using a permanent facility next time out in Valencia, so it will be interesting to see how the drivers deal with a fair amount of space between track and concrete wall, and whether jarring discussions of track limits crop up in FE for the first time.
