Formula E Diriyah E-Prix: Nyck de Vries wins the season opener
28th January 2022Credit: Formula E
Mercedes-EQ’s Nyck de Vries worked his way up from P3 to P1 and won the opening round of the 2021/22 season, a great start to defend his maiden Formula E title!
How the race unfolded…
It was a fantastic start from Mercedes-EQ pole-sitter Stoffel Vandoorne and defending Formula E champion, De Vries as the two drivers lead the pack around the first corner.
However, on the opening lap, DS Techeetah’s Antonio Felix De Costa ventured into the pit lane to retire from the opening round of the 2022 season. The Portuguese driver looked to have sustained rear suspension damage in the first corner carnage.
Andre Lotterer initiated his attack mode on the fifth lap, which will allow the Tag Heuer Porsche driver 30kW of additional power to attack the drivers ahead of him – for three minutes.
A yellow flag was brought out as Mahindra’s Oliver Rowland crashed into the barrier with an intense fight with Envision Racing’s Robin Frijns. As the Marshals worked to clear away Rowland’s car, the brand new Porsche Taycan Safety Car made its official debut.
In a bid to maintain his position in the lead, after the Porsche safety car returned to the pits, Vandoorne took a wide line through the first corner chicane to activate his second bout of attack mode. However, the Belgian driver must have missed the sensors as the Mercedes driver didn’t recieve his extra amount of power. Fortuantely, Vandoorne and De Vries managed to collect their second helping of attack mode, soon after.
On the 22nd lap, Jake Dennis chased down Lotterer as the British driver looked to regain his lost places. He made a ambitious dive down the inside, into the first corner, but Dennis found himself wide into turn two. This meant that Lotterer was able to easily regain his position back. As a result, Dennis had to use up vital energy to cut the gap back down.
After causing a collision, Frijns was given a drive-through penalty for his involvement with Rowland’s retirement.
Dennis finally made the move stick, although he pushed Lotterer wide on the exit, with less than 10 minutes to go. Lotterer attempted to fight back but couldn’t work his way around the Andretti car.
Soon after, Dennis reported that he had a puncture but the Briton was able to continue racing.
After the safety car intervention, race control gifted the race with an extra five minutes and 15 seconds of racing, excluding the final lap.
Despite running in the top five, Lotterer plummetted down to eighth in the field. With just under six minutes to go, it looked as if the German would be knocked out of the points-awarding positions by the end of the race – which happened as the German finished 13th.
Podium:
- Nyck de Vries, Mercedes-EQ
- Stoffel Vandoorne, Mercedes-EQ
- Jake Dennis, Avalanche Andretti
Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.