Barnard wins out in intense London finale; Formula E champions crowned
- Vyas Ponnuri
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
DS Penske's Taylor Barnard triumphed in Formula E's season-ending London E-Prix, taking the final victory on offer in the Gen3 era, and his first in the championship. He took the race victory, ahead of Mahindra's duo of Nyck de Vries and Edoardo Mortara, who rounded out the podium.
It was a special day for Pascal Wehrlein, who won his second Formula E title despite finishing down in 14th, after being held behind by the fiercest of defences from António Félix da Costa's Jaguar.
Mitch Evans finished fourth in his final race for Jaguar, ahead of Envision's Sébastien Buemi, taking a second top five finish in his final Formula E weekend.
The Citroën duo of Nick Cassidy and Jean-Éric Vergne finished sixth and seventh, ahead of Cupra Kiro's Pepe Martí in eighth, with the Nissan duo of Oliver Rowland and Norman Nato rounding out the final points positions in a season finale for the ages.
AS IT UNFOLDED - Round 17 in London
For the second race in a row, a team had locked out the front row of the grid in qualifying. In Saturday's Round 16, it was Porsche, and for the season finale, Mahindra had secured their first front row lockout in Formula E. Nyck de Vries started the 35-lap race from pole alongside teammate Edoardo Mortara.
Among the trio of championship contenders, Porsche's Pascal Wehrlein started third on the grid, while Jaguar's Evans started only two positions back in fifth. Andretti's Jake Dennis faced the toughest challenge, having qualified down in 16th in a tough qualifying session.
Off the five red lights, the top four of Mahindra and Porsche cars maintained their positions. The only change within the top 10 was da Costa making up a position on Ticktum in the opening stages of the race.
Lola's Lucas di Grassi was forced to take a stop-and-go penalty, having been unable to serve his 20-place grid drop in qualifying. He remained well adrift of the field, in his final Formula E start.
Up ahead, the two Mahindra cars and Wehrlein opened up a gap, with Müller once again playing the supporting act and backing up the chasing Evans, as he did so in Round 16 on Saturday.
da Costa was the first driver to take attack mode, having taken four minutes of extra power on Lap 3, and scythed his way through. Coming up on Müller's Porsche, da Costa barged his way past in Turn 2, almost pushing the Swiss driver into the wall. He would open up a path for Evans to take the position, but to no avail.
Wehrlein would take attack mode on Lap 5, in a bid to stave off the challenge from the chasing pack, while Mortara fended off the chasing Jaguar in a stern defence, causing da Costa to run out of attack mode.
De Vries would also take two minutes of attack mode, in a bid to maintain position. Mortara's attempts to take extra power would be to no avail, as he wouldn't be able to get the benefit of extra power.
With da Costa now not in attack mode, he engaged in a fierce game of defence as he refused to let the Porsche man past. In a bid to assist teammate Evans, the Portuguese driver stood firm for over two laps, before Wehrlein eventually made his way past.
However, the gap at the front had now grown to five seconds, with de Vries still leading from Mortara, with DS Penske's Taylor Barnard now in third.
Da Costa would once again prove to be a thorn in Wehrlein's path, making his way past the Porsche driver on Lap 12. Up ahead, de Vries would let teammate Mortara ahead, in a bid to play the team game and provide the best chance of finishing first and second.
Meanwhile, di Grassi's torrid finale weekend came to an end, with his Lola once again suffering a technical issue. The Brazilian was forced to park up at the exit of Turn 1, becoming the first retirement of the race.
Buemi had made great use of his first attack mode, climbing up from 10th to sixth and passing Evans and Müller on Lap 15.
The Jaguar man's frustration came to an end on Lap 17, as he made a late pass on Müller at Turn 19, sending the Swiss driver wide. Cassidy would claim position, before passing Evans in attack mode.
Halfway into the race, Mortara still led the way from de Vries and Barnard, but was yet to take his first attack mode. He would require some saving to do, though, running at two percent less energy compared to his teammate behind.
Dennis, meanwhile, was languishing down in 16th, and with every passing lap, saw his title chances vanishing into the London air.
With the race settling into a rhythm, only Jean-Éric Vergne and Max Günther were in attack mode, the former moving into the top 10 past Müller. He would then move into ninth, passing Drugovich's Andretti.
Mortara went in for his first dose of attack mode on Lap 23, still holding on to the lead. He would swap positions with teammate de Vries once again, on Lap 25.
Further behind, Dennis had taken his first attack mode, with two calculated moves on Ticktum and Müller as he climbed his way past in an attempt to fight back.
Da Costa, meanwhile, once again played a defensive game, holding up Wehrlein, just as Evans made his way up into sixth. Taking his first attack mode on Lap 26, Evans made a double overtake to move up into fourth, passing his championship rival in the process.
The race suddenly took a massive turn, as da Costa attempted to make a deep defence on Wehrlein's Porsche into Turn 16, with a number of drivers suddenly finding their way past the scrapping duo.
One of them was Dennis, who had climbed all the way up into eighth. Wehrlein, though, had fallen to 12th and out of the points by Lap 29, facing a massive task in his quest to take the title again.
With both Wehrlein and da Costa taking their final attack modes at the same time, it became a close fight. Dennis, on the other hand, had dropped down to ninth, despite taking attack mode, one position ahead.
With three laps to go, all hell broke loose, with da Costa tagging Dennis at Turn 16, who would later be involved in a big incident with Eriksson and Wehrlein at Turn 17. The Andretti man would pull into the pits, with a broken front wing, even as Barnard took the lead from the two Mahindra drivers in his final attack mode.
Heading onto the final lap, Barnard looked set for his maiden victory, with de Vries hot on his tail. Despite all the pressure and madness ensuing behind, the DS Penske man held on to take the elusive victory, and sign off on a high for DS Automobiles in their final race.
Further back, though, Wehrlein would come home in 14th, and after a race long battle with da Costa, ensured he sealed his second drivers' championship. Jaguar, meanwhile, took their second constructors' championship, with Evans finishing fourth in his final race for the team he started out with.
An intense, action-packed season finale, and here's how it all ended up after 35 laps of season finale madness in London!
Classification - Round 17 in London
Taylor Barnard (DS Penske)
Nyck de Vries (Mahindra Racing)
Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra Racing)
Mitch Evans (Jaguar)
Sébastien Buemi (Envision Racing)
Nick Cassidy (Citroën Racing)
Jean-Éric Vergne (Citroën Racing)
Pepe Martí (Cupra Kiro)
Oliver Rowland (Nissan)
Norman Nato (Nissan)
Max Günther (DS Penske)
Nico Müller (Porsche)
Felipe Drugovich (Andretti)
Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche)
António Félix da Costa (Jaguar)
Dan Ticktum (Cupra Kiro)
Zane Maloney (Lola Yamaha ABT)
Jake Dennis (Andretti)
Joel Eriksson (Envision Racing)
Lucas di Grassi (Lola Yamaha ABT) - DNF
Comments