Formula E

Da Costa nets Formula E hat-trick with second Berlin win

by Lucy Morson
4 min read

Antonio Felix da Costa took yet another dominant win in the second Berlin E-Prix race, crossing the line three seconds ahead of closest rival Sebastian Buemi for DS Techeetah.

Da Costa, who is now the clear favourite to take the 2019/20 Formula E title, led the second race run on the reversed Tempelhof track from start to finish, having blitzed the rest of the field in qualifying earlier on Thursday.

As da Costa eased across the line to extend his championship lead with a third victory in a row following success in Marrakesh and then Berlin yesterday, there was a four-way battle unfolding behind him for the final two podium positions.

Buemi ultimately hung onto second for Nissan, but came under intense pressure at the end from Audi’s Lucas di Grassi.

Di Grassi was hunted down by the Envision Virgin car of Robin Frijns – who impressed in qualifying earlier in the afternoon and challenged di Grassi in earnest for third place for much of the second half of the race.

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In turn, Frijns was being chased by the Stoffel Vandoorne, which meant that di Grassi ultimately held onto third place as Frijns had to defend from the Mercedes.

Vandoorne executed the most spectacular pass of the race on his journey from 13th on the grid up to fifth, breezing past Oliver Rowland’s Nissan and Envision Virgin’s Sam Bird in attack mode.

Bird then displaced Rowland and the pair ended the race in sixth and seventh respectively.

Edoardo Mortara was eight for Venturi, ahead of Porsche’s Andre Lotterer and reigning champion Jean-Eric Vergne whose miserable trip to Berlin continued as he rounded out the top 10.

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Mahindra’s Alex Lynn was 11th, despite challenging for podium positions at the start of the race after an impressive qualifying performance to third on the grid.

Title hopeful Mitch Evans was 12th for Jaguar, in front of Audi’s Rene Rast who ended his second race for the team in 13th.

There were three full course yellow periods in the race, including for debris from Maximilian Gunther’s BMW – which ultimately retired – and a part of Bird’s front wing which was lost in one of the early skirmishes among the pack.

Nyck de Vries caused the final full course yellow of the race when he stopped his Mercedes on the track, seemingly with a loss of drive.

De Vries was placed under investigation for leaving his car without the permission of race director Scott Elkins, in order to assist marshals in removing the obstruction.

Race Results

Pos Name Team Car Laps Laps Led Total Time Fastest Lap Pitstops Pts
1 António Félix da Costa DS Techeetah DS E-Tense FE20 38 38 46m19.412s 1m08.778s 0 28
2 Sébastien Buemi Nissan e.DAMS Nissan IM02 38 0 +3.09s 1m09.376s 0 18
3 Lucas Di Grassi Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler Formula E Team Audi e-tron FE06 38 0 +8.296s 1m09.036s 0 15
4 Robin Frijns Envision Virgin Racing Audi e-tron FE06 38 0 +9.239s 1m09.257s 0 12
5 Stoffel Vandoorne Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team Mercedes-Benz EQ Silver Arrow 01 38 0 +9.695s 1m08.635s 0 11
6 Sam Bird Envision Virgin Racing Audi e-tron FE06 38 0 +10.081s 1m09.274s 0 8
7 Oliver Rowland Nissan e.DAMS Nissan IM02 38 0 +13.897s 1m09.19s 0 6
8 Edoardo Mortara ROKiT Venturi Racing Mercedes-Benz EQ Silver Arrow 01 38 0 +16.367s 1m09.115s 0 4
9 André Lotterer TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team Porsche 99X Electric 38 0 +16.893s 1m09.181s 0 2
10 Jean-Eric Vergne DS Techeetah DS E-Tense FE20 38 0 +20.919s 1m09.11s 0 1
11 Alex Lynn Mahindra Racing Mahindra M6Electro 38 0 +21.288s 1m09.34s 0 0
12 Mitch Evans Panasonic Jaguar Racing Jaguar I-Type IV 38 0 +22.157s 1m08.912s 0 0
13 René Rast Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler Formula E Team Audi e-tron FE06 38 0 +22.631s 1m08.983s 0 0
14 Nico Müller Geox Dragon Penske EV-4 38 0 +23.579s 1m09.1s 0 0
15 Jérôme d'Ambrosio Mahindra Racing Mahindra M6Electro 38 0 +23.987s 1m09.497s 0 0
16 Neel Jani TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team Porsche 99X Electric 38 0 +26.381s 1m09.745s 0 0
17 Daniel Abt NIO 333 FE Team NIO FE-005 38 0 +35.424s 1m09.887s 0 0
18 Sérgio Sette Câmara Geox Dragon Penske EV-4 38 0 +35.727s 1m09.78s 0 0
19 Oliver Turvey NIO 333 FE Team NIO FE-005 38 0 +36.356s 1m09.711s 0 0
20 Alexander Sims BMW i Andretti Motorsport BMW iFE.20 38 0 +42.395s 1m08.674s 1 0
21 James Calado Panasonic Jaguar Racing Jaguar I-Type IV 38 0 +52.828s 1m09.371s 1 0
Felipe Massa ROKiT Venturi Racing Mercedes-Benz EQ Silver Arrow 01 38 0 DNC 1m09.151s 1 0
Maximilian Günther BMW i Andretti Motorsport BMW iFE.20 27 0 DNF 1m09.185s 3 0
Nyck de Vries Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team Mercedes-Benz EQ Silver Arrow 01 15 0 DNF 1m09.374s 0 0
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