Fourteen drivers still chasing FE title, de Vries tops FP1

Formula E championship leader Nyck de Vries topped the first practice session of the decisive Berlin day for Mercedes.

De Vries clung onto his points lead yesterday despite failing to score having picked up a puncture from early contact with Alexander Sims after a poor qualifying run left him 19th on the grid.

Fourteen drivers remain in championship contention going into the final day, with Stoffel Vandoorne, Oliver Rowland, Andre Lotterer and Alexander Sims eliminated from the title chase on Saturday.

De Vries leads Edoardo Mortara by three points and Jake Dennis by four, with Mitch Evans, Robin Frijns, Saturday winner Lucas di Grassi, reigning champion Antonio Felix da Costa, Sam Bird, Jean-Eric Vergne, Alex Lynn, Nick Cassidy, Rene Rast, Pascal Wehrlein and Maximilian Guenther also still in the hunt – though Guenther needs an absolute maximum score of the race win and all five bonus points available across qualifying and fastest lap.

Mercedes had struggled for pace on Saturday but started well on the reversed track layout with de Vries topping the times on a 1m06.688s and team-mate Vandoorne 0.368s slower in eighth.

DS Techeetah – which looked firm favourite for race one success after locking out the front row but slumped when it mattered – remained competitive with da Costa and Vergne second and fourth, sandwiching Rowland.

Dennis and di Grassi completed the top six.

Four drivers with no or very little championship prospects topped the later second practice session.

Outgoing Nissan racer Rowland led Guenther, Venturi’s Norman Nato and Vandoorne in that half hour, where Rowland’s pacesetting time was three tenths of a second faster than de Vries’ earlier mark.

Vergne and de Vries were the best of the title contenders in fifth and sixth.

Practice 1 Results

Practice 2 Results