Formula E

Vandoorne eases to Monaco Formula E win for Mercedes

by Matt Beer
4 min read

Mercedes driver Stoffel Vandoorne ended a year-long Formula E victory drought and jumped into the championship lead with an ultimately commanding Monaco E-Prix win.

Vandoorne had run fourth early on and was in better shape on energy conservation than Mitch Evans, Pascal Wehrlein and Jean-Eric Vergne ahead as the leading Jaguar ran a cautious pace.

But Vandoorne’s progress into the lead was more to do with good timing and problems ahead than that energy management.

Evans was frustratedly unable to save as much energy as those behind him, and was overtaken by Wehrlein’s Porsche during the period when both were on their first attack mode.

Wehrlein then used the last of his extra power to overtake temporary leader Vergne, who’d gone for attack mode earlier than most, only for the Porsche to then suddenly slow on the hill out of Mirabeau with a technical problem.

Vergne took his second attack mode next time around, with Vandoorne taking the lead as a consequence.

But Vergne’s extra power was wasted under a full course yellow caused by Wehrlein’s limping car stopping on track at the tunnel exit.

The timing of the yellow ending also worked in Vandoorne’s favour, as he was able to accelerate away with a 3.5s lead.

That was eradicated by the safety car after Oliver Rowland’s attempt to take fifth from Andre Lotterer sent both into the Sainte Devote barriers.

Evans got back onto Vandoorne’s tail as a result, but unlike the leader still had to take his second attack mode.

He fell behind Vergne and Robin Frijns when he did so, and though Evans repassed both, Vandoorne was well out of reach and won by 1.3s.

Vergne narrowly fended off Frijns and the second DS Techeetah of Antonio Felix da Costa to complete the podium.

Lucas di Grassi lost out on a win shot for the same attack mode timing reason as Vergne and finished sixth. His Venturi team-mate Edoardo Mortara made superb progress from 16th on the grid into the top 10 then had to pit with a late mechanical problem.

Nick Cassidy produced a similar charge to come from 18th to seventh for Envision.

Nissan was on for a double points finish until Maximilian Guenther ran out of energy, but Sebastien Buemi still made it up from last on the grid to eighth ahead of Jake Dennis.

Reigning champion Nyck de Vries lost ground early on in a tussle with Frijns and could only finish 10th.

While one Jaguar fought for victory, the other never featured anywhere near the front.

Sam Bird fell back from an already disappointing 13th on the grid to 17th at the first corner and then retired early with suspension damage.

Race Results

Pos Name Team Car Laps Laps Led Total Time Fastest Lap Pitstops Pts
1 Stoffel Vandoorne Mercedes-Benz EQ Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 30 14 51m12.473s 1m33.169s 0 25
2 Mitch Evans Jaguar TCS Racing Jaguar I-TYPE 5 30 12 +1.285s 1m32.941s 0 21
3 Jean-Eric Vergne DS Techeetah DS E-Tense FE21 30 2 +3.293s 1m33.195s 0 15
4 Robin Frijns Envision Racing Audi e-tron FE07 30 0 +3.467s 1m32.707s 0 13
5 António Félix da Costa DS Techeetah DS E-Tense FE21 30 0 +3.952s 1m32.977s 0 10
6 Lucas Di Grassi RokIt Venturi Racing Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 30 0 +8.133s 1m33.353s 0 8
7 Nick Cassidy Envision Racing Audi e-tron FE07 30 0 +15.273s 1m33.717s 0 6
8 Sébastien Buemi Nissan e.Dams Nissan IM03 30 0 +17.773s 1m33.374s 0 4
9 Jake Dennis Avalanche Andretti BMW iFE.021 30 0 +17.82s 1m33.391s 0 2
10 Nyck de Vries Mercedes-Benz EQ Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 30 0 +18.283s 1m33.662s 0 1
11 Alexander Sims Mahindra Racing Mahindra M7Electro 30 0 +19.35s 1m33.124s 0 0
12 Daniel Ticktum Nio 333 Racing NIO 333 001 30 0 +19.756s 1m33.217s 0 0
13 Sérgio Sette Câmara Dragon / Penske Autosport Penske EV-5 30 0 +22.894s 1m33.353s 0 0
14 Antonio Giovinazzi Dragon / Penske Autosport Penske EV-5 30 0 +22.987s 1m33.787s 0 0
15 Oliver Turvey Nio 333 Racing NIO 333 001 30 0 +23.198s 1m33.654s 0 0
16 Oliver Askew Avalanche Andretti BMW iFE.021 30 0 +23.432s 1m33.615s 0 0
17 Maximilian Günther Nissan e.Dams Nissan IM03 30 0 +39.668s 1m34.07s 0 0
Edoardo Mortara RokIt Venturi Racing Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 23 0 DNF 1m32.811s 0 0
Oliver Rowland Mahindra Racing Mahindra M7Electro 18 0 DNF 1m35.417s 0 0
André Lotterer TAG Heuer Porsche Porsche 99X Electric 18 0 DNF 1m34.743s 0 0
Pascal Wehrlein TAG Heuer Porsche Porsche 99X Electric 15 2 DNF 1m35.154s 0 0
Sam Bird Jaguar TCS Racing Jaguar I-TYPE 5 7 0 DNF 1m36.201s 0 0
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