A half-hour Friday afternoon practice session on a very dusty track might not offer the best evidence of true Formula E form, but a commanding top spot for Stoffel Vandoorne in practice one in New York was an encouraging start for the Mercedes driver.
Vandoorne lost the championship lead in the last round in Marrakesh when brake problems in qualifying left him starting 20th and only able to progress to eighth in the race. He fell to fourth in the standings as Mercedes customer Venturi’s lead driver Edoardo Mortara took the lead.
On Friday in New York, Vandoorne deposed Pascal Wehrlein’s Porsche from first place with a traffic-dodging 1m10.466s lap late on but then promptly spun at Turn 1.
His run back to the pits included a new purple sector, suggesting there was still more to come from the Mercedes.
Vandoorne was shoved down the order as more drivers did qualifying simulations on the ever-cleaner track.
But after spells in front by Mortara, three-time New York winner (but 2022 FE struggler) Sam Bird, Oliver Rowland and even Dragon Penske driver Sergio Sette Camara, Vandoorne grabbed first place back again with a last-gasp 1m09.836s.
That was a comfortable 0.299s clear of Sette Camara, whose position in second place did perhaps suggest this wasn’t the most representative session given his team’s usual pace.
Rowland, Bird, Mortara and Wehrlein completed the top six.
Of Vandoorne and Mortara’s title rivals, Jaguar driver Mitch Evans was 15th and DS Techeetah’s Jean-Eric Vergne was only 20th.
The field has another practice session on Saturday at 7am local time before qualifying and race one.
Practice 1 Results
| Pos | Name | Team | Car | Gap Next | Gap Leader | Best Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stoffel Vandoorne | Mercedes-Benz EQ | Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 | 1m09.836s | ||
| 2 | Sérgio Sette Câmara | Dragon / Penske Autosport | Penske EV-5 | +0.299s | +0.299s | 1m10.135s |
| 3 | Oliver Rowland | Mahindra Racing | Mahindra M8Electro | +0.008s | +0.307s | 1m10.143s |
| 4 | Sam Bird | Jaguar TCS Racing | Jaguar I-Type 5 | +0.028s | +0.335s | 1m10.171s |
| 5 | Edoardo Mortara | ROKiT Venturi Racing | Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 | +0.145s | +0.48s | 1m10.316s |
| 6 | Pascal Wehrlein | TAG Heuer Porsche | Porsche 99X Electric | +0.003s | +0.483s | 1m10.319s |
| 7 | António Félix da Costa | DS Techeetah | DS E-Tense FE21 | +0.031s | +0.514s | 1m10.35s |
| 8 | Nyck de Vries | Mercedes-Benz EQ | Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 | +0.047s | +0.561s | 1m10.397s |
| 9 | Maximilian Günther | Nissan e.Dams | Nissan IM03 | +0.003s | +0.564s | 1m10.4s |
| 10 | Jake Dennis | Avalanche Andretti | BMW i FE.21 | +0.019s | +0.583s | 1m10.419s |
| 11 | Lucas Di Grassi | ROKiT Venturi Racing | Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 | +0.03s | +0.613s | 1m10.449s |
| 12 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Dragon / Penske Autosport | Penske EV-5 | +0.039s | +0.652s | 1m10.488s |
| 13 | Alexander Sims | Mahindra Racing | Mahindra M8Electro | +0.01s | +0.662s | 1m10.498s |
| 14 | Nick Cassidy | Envision Racing | Audi e-tron FE07 | +0.101s | +0.763s | 1m10.599s |
| 15 | Mitch Evans | Jaguar TCS Racing | Jaguar I-Type 5 | +0.014s | +0.777s | 1m10.613s |
| 16 | Daniel Ticktum | NIO 333 Racing | NIO 333 001 | +0.008s | +0.785s | 1m10.621s |
| 17 | Oliver Turvey | NIO 333 Racing | NIO 333 001 | +0.111s | +0.896s | 1m10.732s |
| 18 | Sébastien Buemi | Nissan e.Dams | Nissan IM03 | +0.007s | +0.903s | 1m10.739s |
| 19 | Robin Frijns | Envision Racing | Audi e-tron FE07 | +0.024s | +0.927s | 1m10.763s |
| 20 | Jean-Eric Vergne | DS Techeetah | DS E-Tense FE21 | +0.025s | +0.952s | 1m10.788s |
| 21 | André Lotterer | TAG Heuer Porsche | Porsche 99X Electric | +0.601s | +1.553s | 1m11.389s |
| 22 | Oliver Askew | Avalanche Andretti | BMW i FE.21 | +0.091s | +1.644s | 1m11.48s |
