Mercedes began the 2021 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season in front as Nyck de Vries set the pace in the first practice session of the year in Diriyah in Saudi Arabia.
The Thursday evening session was Formula E’s first-ever night-time running as the track’s floodlight system made its debut.
As first revealed by The Race, the Saudi Arabian venue has undergone several minor configuration changes ahead of this week’s race, and those combined with the track being resurfaced contributed to de Vries’ benchmark 1m08.693s lap being 7.5s quicker than Robin Frijns managed when topping the corresponding session at the start of the 2019/20 season.
Porsche took second place with Andre Lotterer, just under six tenths of a second slower than the Mercedes, with Audi completing an all-German-manufacturer top three as Lucas di Grassi claimed third.
Mercedes’ customer team Venturi went fourth with Edoardo Mortara, followed by Oliver Rowland of Nissan e.dams.
Reigning champion Antonio Felix da Costa had multiple trips over run-off areas and ended up back in eighth.
Teams have a further half-hour of practice on Friday lunchtime before the season’s first qualifying session later that afternoon and then the season-opening race at 8pm local time tomorrow evening.
Practice 1 Results
| Pos | Name | Team | Car | Gap Next | Gap Leader | Best Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nyck de Vries | Mercedes-Benz EQ | Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 | 1m08.693s | ||
| 2 | André Lotterer | TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E | Porsche 99X Electric | +0.588s | +0.588s | 1m09.281s |
| 3 | Lucas Di Grassi | Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler | Audi e-tron FE07 | +0.046s | +0.634s | 1m09.327s |
| 4 | Edoardo Mortara | RokIT Venturi Racing | Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 | +0.065s | +0.699s | 1m09.392s |
| 5 | Oliver Rowland | Nissan e.DAMS | Nissan IM02 | +0.027s | +0.726s | 1m09.419s |
| 6 | Alex Lynn | Mahinda Racing | Mahindra M7Electro | +0.07s | +0.796s | 1m09.489s |
| 7 | Mitch Evans | Jaguar Racing | Jaguar I-Type 5 | +0.003s | +0.799s | 1m09.492s |
| 8 | António Félix da Costa | DS Techeetah | DS E-Tense FE20 | +0.011s | +0.81s | 1m09.503s |
| 9 | Robin Frijns | Envision Virgin Racing | Audi e-tron FE07 | +0.049s | +0.859s | 1m09.552s |
| 10 | Maximilian Günther | BMW i Andretti Motorsport | BMW iFE.21 | +0.062s | +0.921s | 1m09.614s |
| 11 | Alexander Sims | Mahinda Racing | Mahindra M7Electro | +0.089s | +1.01s | 1m09.703s |
| 12 | Stoffel Vandoorne | Mercedes-Benz EQ | Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 | +0.023s | +1.033s | 1m09.726s |
| 13 | Tom Blomqvist | NIO 333 Formula E Team | NIO 333 001 | +0.038s | +1.071s | 1m09.764s |
| 14 | René Rast | Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler | Audi e-tron FE07 | +0.015s | +1.086s | 1m09.779s |
| 15 | Jean-Eric Vergne | DS Techeetah | DS E-Tense FE20 | +0.02s | +1.106s | 1m09.799s |
| 16 | Nico Müller | Dragon / Penske Autosport | Penske EV-4 | +0.098s | +1.204s | 1m09.897s |
| 17 | Pascal Wehrlein | TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E | Porsche 99X Electric | +0.008s | +1.212s | 1m09.905s |
| 18 | Sérgio Sette Câmara | Dragon / Penske Autosport | Penske EV-4 | +0.102s | +1.314s | 1m10.007s |
| 19 | Sébastien Buemi | Nissan e.DAMS | Nissan IM02 | +0.025s | +1.339s | 1m10.032s |
| 20 | Sam Bird | Jaguar Racing | Jaguar I-Type 5 | +0.034s | +1.373s | 1m10.066s |
| 21 | Oliver Turvey | NIO 333 Formula E Team | NIO 333 001 | +0.022s | +1.395s | 1m10.088s |
| 22 | Norman Nato | RokIT Venturi Racing | Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 | +0.036s | +1.431s | 1m10.124s |
| 23 | Nick Cassidy | Envision Virgin Racing | Audi e-tron FE07 | +0.04s | +1.471s | 1m10.164s |
| 24 | Jake Dennis | BMW i Andretti Motorsport | BMW iFE.21 | +0.277s | +1.748s | 1m10.441s |
