Formula E

Vandoorne claims Formula E world title in Mercedes’ last race

by Matt Beer
5 min read

Stoffel Vandoorne and Mercedes clinched the 2022 Formula E World Championships with second place in the Seoul finale.

Vandoorne’s only remaining title rival Mitch Evans needed to win from 13th on the grid and hope Vandoorne fell to eighth or lower from his fourth-place start in order to pull off a championship upset.

But seventh was the limit of Jaguar driver Evans’s charge, and a smooth second for Vandoorne wrapped up his first title since dominating GP2 in 2015.

This weekend was Mercedes’ last in Formula E, and the result means it has secured title doubles in two of its three seasons in the championship – having taken Nyck de Vries to last year’s drivers’ crown. Its team will be taken over by McLaren for 2023.

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“What a way to end that,” said an ecstatic Vandoorne on team radio at the finish.

“What a journey this has been. We deserved this so much. We’re going to have so many memories. Thank you so much.

“Well done to Mitch as well for pushing me all year long. It was an awesome fight.”

Mercedes’ customer Venturi was the only one that could beat it to the teams’ title, but a race win for Edoardo Mortara was not enough to turn that battle around even with de Vries retiring early following a midfield collision with Pascal Wehrlein’s Porsche.

Mortara dominated the race, grabbing the lead on the second lap with a bold dive on polesitter Antonio Felix da Costa in which Jake Dennis got past the DS Techeetah too.

Vandoorne had a look at pouncing on da Costa as well before thinking better of it, and then shadowing him for the next part of the race as Mortara and Dennis escaped.

Evans escaped relatively unscathed from a wild first three corners featuring a series of lunges by Nissan’s Maximilian Guenther. The first Guenther got away with, the second took him into both Lucas di Grassi and Dan Ticktum and caused a traffic jam behind that damaged multiple cars, and the third sent di Grassi sideways and allowed the top six to get away.

Ticktum was with them at first in a glorious but brief run for NIO 333, as he then clipped the wall on lap two while chasing Robin Frijns for fifth and had to retire.

Evans made it up to ninth fairly smoothly and then gained another place when di Grassi pitted with a puncture. But he couldn’t pass next target Jean-Eric Vergne and would follow the DS Techeetah all the way to the finish.

A long mid-race safety car for another Guenther incident bunched the pack and triggered nearly seven minutes of extra time.

Mortara’s lead wasn’t jeopardised, but taking attack mode on the restart lap without losing a place allowed da Costa to have a shot at Dennis for second.

He got ahead down the outside on the start straight but contact was made as da Costa turned in. Da Costa was knocked into a slide that sent him to the back of the pack, and Dennis was given a 5s time penalty that meant Vandoorne could clinch the title from second in the final results.

Dennis’s pace was still good enough to be classified third ahead of Frijns, with Oliver Askew making it a great result for Avalanche Andretti by taking fifth ahead of Vergne and Evans.

Da Costa charged back from 16th after the Dennis clash to take 10th behind Nick Cassidy and Sebastien Buemi.

Antonio Giovinazzi didn’t even start what should have been his final FE race. The ex-Formula 1 driver was ruled out on Sunday morning due to a hand injury sustained in a clash with da Costa in race one.

As Dragon Penske didn’t have a reserve driver of its own, it borrowed 2023 Nissan signing Sacha Fenestraz from Jaguar. Fenestraz was the last finisher in 16th.

Race Results

Pos Name Team Car Laps Laps Led Total Time Fastest Lap Pitstops Pts
1 Edoardo Mortara ROKiT Venturi Racing Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 34 33 53m31.68s 1m22.767s 0 25
2 Stoffel Vandoorne Mercedes-Benz EQ Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 34 0 +3.756s 1m23.009s 0 18
3 Jake Dennis Avalanche Andretti BMW i FE.21 34 0 +6.649s 1m22.842s 0 15
4 Robin Frijns Envision Racing Audi e-tron FE07 34 0 +7.021s 1m22.922s 0 12
5 Oliver Askew Avalanche Andretti BMW i FE.21 34 0 +7.85s 1m22.962s 0 10
6 Jean-Eric Vergne DS Techeetah DS E-Tense FE21 34 0 +9.471s 1m23.043s 0 8
7 Mitch Evans Jaguar TCS Racing Jaguar I-Type 5 34 0 +10.243s 1m23.34s 0 6
8 Nick Cassidy Envision Racing Audi e-tron FE07 34 0 +14.208s 1m22.401s 0 5
9 Sébastien Buemi Nissan e.Dams Nissan IM03 34 0 +16.629s 1m23.468s 0 2
10 António Félix da Costa DS Techeetah DS E-Tense FE21 34 1 +22.226s 1m23.173s 0 4
11 Lucas Di Grassi ROKiT Venturi Racing Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 34 0 +24.546s 1m23.568s 0 0
12 Alexander Sims Mahindra Racing Mahindra M8Electro 34 0 +26.513s 1m23.46s 0 0
13 Sérgio Sette Câmara Dragon / Penske Autosport Penske EV-5 34 0 +27.813s 1m24.056s 0 0
14 Norman Nato Jaguar TCS Racing Jaguar I-Type 5 34 0 +31.526s 1m24.137s 0 0
15 Oliver Turvey NIO 333 Racing NIO 333 001 34 0 +31.565s 1m23.584s 0 0
16 Sacha Fenestraz Dragon / Penske Autosport Penske EV-5 34 0 +36.27s 1m24.381s 0 0
Maximilian Günther Nissan e.Dams Nissan IM03 12 0 DNF 1m23.929s 0 0
Nyck de Vries Mercedes-Benz EQ Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 7 0 DNF 1m24.141s 0 0
Pascal Wehrlein TAG Heuer Porsche Porsche 99X Electric 6 0 DNF 1m24.538s 0 0
Daniel Ticktum NIO 333 Racing NIO 333 001 2 0 DNF 1m25.935s 0 0
Oliver Rowland Mahindra Racing Mahindra M8Electro 0 0 DNF 0s 0 0
André Lotterer TAG Heuer Porsche Porsche 99X Electric 0 0 DNF 0s 0 0
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