Formula E: Points only for Edoardo Mortara 🎥
ZERO FOR BUEMI, JANI AND MÜLLER In the second Formula E race at Diriyah, Sébastien Buemi in the Nissan was on course for the podium until an opponent flipped him. As a result, Edoardo Mortara was the best Swiss driver twice. The only thing that was undisputed on the circuit at Diriyah, a suburb of the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, was Alexander Sims' victory in the second race. The Brit [...]
The only undisputed victory in the second race on the circuit in Diriyah, a suburb of the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, was that of Alexander Sims. The Briton set the fastest time in SuperPole qualifying in his BMW and then led the race from start to finish. On the previous day, Sims had already been the fastest until the last quarter of an hour.
Buemi on the front row
Sébastien Buemi qualified his Nissan next to Sims on the front row of the grid and followed him like a shadow. After about ten of the 45 minutes of racing, Antonio Felix da Costa in the DS Techeetah bumped into him from behind and spun him around. As a result, the driver from the canton of Vaud dropped back to eleventh position.
Because he had rejoined the field after the spin with a dangerous maneuver, he received a ten-second time penalty, resulting in only 12th place. This means that this year's runner-up is still without points after two runs.
Sébastien Buemi: "That was not my weekend. After the spin, my race was ruined. These races are so short that you can hardly make up for such incidents. But it's important to know that we're already doing well in terms of speed with the new powertrain. Now we have to concentrate on turning this into a good result in Chile in January, where we were on pole position for the first time this year."
But no one-two for BMW
The German Maximilian Günther crossed the finish line in second place but received a 24-second time penalty retrospectively which set him far back. Second place was inherited by Lucas di Grassi in the electric racer from Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler. The Audi factory team had come away empty-handed the previous day. In return, Friday's winner Sam Bird in the Audi e-tron FE06 from Envision Virgin Racing retired after a collision with Mitch Evans' Jaguar Racing.
Stoffel Vandoorne in the Mercedes-Benz EQ Silver Arrow moved up to third place. Thus, all three manufacturers occupied the podium with one man each. The leader of the standings after the first weekend is Sims with 35 points ahead of Vandoorne (30) and Bird (26).
Fourth place for Mortara
Edoardo Mortara in the Venturi with Mercedes powertrain was the only Swiss to score a total of 18 points in Saudi Arabia. After a rather disappointing seventh place the day before, he finished a very good fourth thanks to Günther's demotion.
Neel Jani still has to learn
A brilliant second on the Porsche debut the day before, André Lotterer crossed the finish line in sixth position. Unfortunately, the German overlooked the yellow flags when he passed a competitor with technical difficulties and received a time penalty retrospectively for this, relegating him to P14. His Swiss teammate finished the race in P13.
Neel Jani: "It was a challenging second race. But we were better on pace than on Friday and for me personally it was another big step forward. We've all gained a lot of experience here and now we have to keep working hard to use it for ourselves and the upcoming races."
Frustrating debut for Nico Müller
Nico Müller was beaten completely below his value. After he had to watch on Friday due to the training accident, his first Formula E race was difficult.
Nico Müller: "Sensor problems already set us back in qualifying. We therefore chose an alternative strategy. I saved a lot of energy in the first half of the race, but this was useless later on with three safety car phases. When I was forced into the wall and suffered a puncture, I gave up. Frustrating, but there are positives that will make me stronger for the next race."
