Formula E

Dennis wins, Vandoorne gets huge Formula E title bid boost

by Matt Beer
4 min read

Jake Dennis controlled Formula E’s opening London E-Prix, but second place puts Stoffel Vandoorne in a very comfortable position in the championship fight.

What was a four-way title battle just a month ago now looks like Vandoorne’s to lose in his Mercedes team’s final FE season as he takes a 24-point advantage into the final three races of 2022.

Vandoorne put pressure on Avalanche Andretti’s pole-winner Dennis at various stages during the race, but was also urged not to take any unnecessary risks given the title implications.

Dennis looked in imperious form in any case, and won by 2.2s to give Andretti its first win since BMW’s exit at the end of last season returned it to independent status.

Vandoorne was already in a strong position after qualifying as all his title rivals struggled.

Edoardo Mortara (che), Rokit Venturi Racing, Silver Arrow 02

Two of them getting involved in a first-corner tangle boosted him further. A three-way clash left Edoardo Mortara limping to 18th in a damaged Venturi Mercedes and Jean-Eric Vergne firmly in the midfield (where he’d later collide with Sebastien Buemi on the way to 13th), with Sam Bird the other driver involved and immediately out of his and Jaguar’s home race.

But Bird’s team-mate Mitch Evans did at least keep his title hopes alive with a great drive from 14th on the grid to what became fifth after a post-race penalty for Nyck de Vries.

Mercedes initially had two cars on the podium as reigning champion de Vries narrowly fended off a flying Nick Cassidy for third on the road.

Envision driver Cassidy left both his attack modes late and was able to fly through the order as a result, though he couldn’t quite separate a very defensive de Vries from the position.

But three hours after the finish, the officials ruled that de Vries had gone too far in that defence and gave him a five-second penalty for making too many moves on the straight, dropping him to sixth.

They had considered two separate incidents on the approach to Turn 1 and decreed that the second was severe enough to merit a penalty.

Oliver Askew backed Dennis up by completing the top five on the road in the second Andretti BMW and was then promoted to fourth by de Vries’ penalty.

Sergio Sette Camara drove a heroic race for zero reward. Having qualified his Dragon Penske a stunning fourth, he briefly ran third early on after a great dive on de Vries.

Unsurprisingly he could not match the other frontrunners’ energy usage though and began tumbling down the order in the closing minutes before stopping on the last lap.

Race Results

Pos Name Team Car Laps Laps Led Total Time Fastest Lap Pitstops Pts
1 Jake Dennis Avalanche Andretti BMW i FE.21 37 37 46m56.557s 1m14.429s 0 29
2 Stoffel Vandoorne Mercedes-Benz EQ Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 37 0 +2.223s 1m15.149s 0 18
3 Nick Cassidy Envision Racing Audi e-tron FE07 37 0 +12.663s 1m14.887s 0 15
4 Oliver Askew Avalanche Andretti BMW i FE.21 37 0 +14.904s 1m15.526s 0 12
5 Mitch Evans Jaguar TCS Racing Jaguar I-Type 5 37 0 +17.128s 1m15.356s 0 10
6 Nyck de Vries Mercedes-Benz EQ Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 37 0 +17.367s 1m15.306s 0 8
7 António Félix da Costa DS Techeetah DS E-Tense FE21 37 0 +17.733s 1m15.42s 0 6
8 Maximilian Günther Nissan e.Dams Nissan IM03 37 0 +22.067s 1m15.595s 0 4
9 Lucas Di Grassi ROKiT Venturi Racing Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 37 0 +32.139s 1m15.177s 0 2
10 Pascal Wehrlein TAG Heuer Porsche Porsche 99X Electric 37 0 +34.347s 1m15.334s 0 1
11 Sébastien Buemi Nissan e.Dams Nissan IM03 37 0 +35.307s 1m15.799s 0 0
12 André Lotterer TAG Heuer Porsche Porsche 99X Electric 37 0 +35.508s 1m15.626s 0 0
13 Alexander Sims Mahindra Racing Mahindra M8Electro 37 0 +40.345s 1m15.606s 0 0
14 Jean-Eric Vergne DS Techeetah DS E-Tense FE21 37 0 +41.057s 1m15.701s 0 0
15 Oliver Turvey NIO 333 Racing NIO 333 001 37 0 +41.293s 1m15.926s 0 0
16 Robin Frijns Envision Racing Audi e-tron FE07 37 0 +44.023s 1m15.822s 0 0
17 Daniel Ticktum NIO 333 Racing NIO 333 001 37 0 +51.947s 1m15.539s 0 0
18 Edoardo Mortara ROKiT Venturi Racing Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 37 0 +1m28.796s 1m15.12s 0 0
Sérgio Sette Câmara Dragon / Penske Autosport Penske EV-5 37 0 DNC 1m15.348s 0 0
Antonio Giovinazzi Dragon / Penske Autosport Penske EV-5 26 0 DNF 1m16.455s 0 0
Oliver Rowland Mahindra Racing Mahindra M8Electro 17 0 DNF 1m15.429s 0 0
Sam Bird Jaguar TCS Racing Jaguar I-Type 5 0 0 DNF 0s 0 0
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