Formula E: Progress at Sébastien Buemi 🎥
CLEAR CASE FOR DA COSTA Portuguese driver António Félix da Costa won the first two evening Formula E races in Berlin. Of the Swiss drivers, only Nissan driver Sébastien Buemi impressed. The highlights of the second Berlin race, which António Félix da Costa won ahead of Sébastien Buemi. After six years as a BMW works driver, António Félix da Costa [...]
The highlights of the second Berlin race, won by António Félix da Costa ahead of Sébastien Buemi.
After six years as a BMW works driver, António Félix da Costa switched to DS Techeetah for this season. The Portuguese driver is showing his true strength at the wheel of the E-Tense FE20 in the championship-winning team from China, which has a partnership with DS Automobiles.
Da Costa on course for mastery
The winner of the last Formula E race before the global standstill in motorsport won the race on Wednesday and Thursday evening on the counter-clockwise Berlin-Tempelhof airfield circuit. No other driver was ever in front.
With three wins in a row plus the additional points from qualifying, the Portuguese driver extended his championship lead to an almost unassailable margin, as his direct rivals did not show anywhere near the same consistency. Theoretically, da Costa could become champion as early as Saturday at the fourth-last round of the season, which ends in Berlin - earlier than anyone else before him.
Buemi's missed opportunity
On Wednesday, Porsche driver André Lotterer took second place from start to finish, while on Thursday Sébastien Buemi, who started from the front row alongside da Costa, took over the first chasing role. After a modest seventh place the previous evening, the Vaud native proved to be much stronger in the Nissan IM20.
The result was his second podium after Mexico in February. But it could well have been victory.
Sébastien Buemi: "The race was closer than I thought. I was a bit unlucky when I activated the first attack mode because its advantage evaporated due to the onset of the yellow phase. Otherwise, things might have looked different at the front. But at least we made progress, which gives me confidence."
Buemi occupies sixth place in the championship. He is only five points behind Lucas di Grassi of Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, who is now in second place after finishing third on Thursday. Catching up with Da Costa in the remaining two double headers is theoretically possible. In practice, however, last year's runner-up is probably aiming for second place in the championship once again.
Handicaps for Müller and Jani
Of the other Swiss drivers, only Edoardo Mortara in the Venturi-Mercedes scored four points on Thursday. Nico Müller only finished the second race. Geox Dragon Racing with its private Penske EV-4 does not seem to be able to keep up with the speed of the works teams.
Neel Jani did not achieve optimum laps in either qualifying session with the Porsche 99X electric, so he had to start from the back of the grid. The driver from Biel made up several positions in both races.
After subsequent time penalties for Mortara and Rowland (Nissan) and the disqualification of Günther (BMW), Jani just missed out on his first championship point in eleventh place on Wednesday.
He will have the next opportunity to make up for this under his own steam on Saturday and Sunday in races 3 and 4 on the airfield circuit, which will then be used twice.
Results Berlin Race 1 Results Berlin Race 2 Driver stand Stand teams
