Buemi credits intelligent attack mode usage for Monaco E Prix victory

Written by Frankie Parrish

Round 7 of the Formula E championship, the second race of the double-header around the Monte-Carlo streets, proved exciting. Envision Racing’s Sebastian Buemi took on the slippery streets to clinch his and Envision Racing’s first win in 2025.

Buemi grabbed his first win in five years, and his third around Monaco | Credit: Ryan Fleming

Buemi’s previous win came over half a decade ago, the Swiss racer expressing, “I can't even remember the last time (I won) in New York”, before elaborating on the importance of timely attack mode in his victory. “Attack mode was key because every straight you spend behind a car not in attack mode wastes lap time,” he said.  

Current championship leader Oliver Rowland took the chequered flag just over four seconds behind the now three-time Monaco winner. Reflecting on the incident with DS Penske’s Jean-Éric Vergne, the Nissan man was quoted as saying, “He [Vergne] was trying to slow the race down, and I was getting a little bit impatient.

"For me, I was wheel-to-wheel, and I would have been able to make the apex of 11, but it is not easy to get two cars through. My initial reaction was to give the position back straight away,” he concluded.

Rowland grabbed a second podium in two races at Monaco | Credit: Ryan Fleming

Rowland’s teammate Nato finished with a two-place promotion to P13, improving his finishing position from Round 6’s dry race.

Jaguar’s Nick Cassidy finally secured a podium for Jaguar in 2025. Delighted, the New Zealander expressed his desire to understand the reasons for his struggles earlier in the season. “We have shown glimpses of performance, and we are trying to understand why at times we are fighting top three, and other times fighting P19,” Cassidy said.  

Da Costa finished in P4, a drastic improvement from the DNF from Round 6, the Porsche driver coming alive in the poor weather. Teammate Pascal Wehrlein gained three places, finishing seventh, capitalising on the opportunity when Mitch Evans and Jake Hughes suffered an incident by turn one.

Reigning champion Wehrlein finished seventh on the road | Credit: Ryan Fleming

De Vries rounded out the top five, giving the podium sitters a tricky time overtaking around the streets of Monte-Carlo. On the other side of the garage, Mahindra’s Edoardo Mortara had a stellar performance, making up nine places on the road to finish P12.

After a team error in qualifying, with only 300 kW of power as opposed to the mandated 350 kW, Dan Ticktum started seventh for Cupra Kiro, only to clip the wall and head straight to the runoff, followed by a neat spin to join the back of the pack, with the McLaren of Sam Bird.

Barnard managed to finish only 16th on the road | Credit: Ryan Fleming

The McLaren man had a poor qualifying, crashing out into turn one, resulting in a lonely race at the pack, only picking up two places from the two DNFs. McLaren teammate Barnard suffered from a poor qualifying performance, starting and staying in the P16 slot.

Nico Mueller had a poor Round 7, causing a safety car by parking up outside Casino Square. In contrast, teammate Jake Dennis found more success in Monaco, grabbing ninth from a P12 starting position on the road.

Maserati driver Vandoorne clinched the last points position in P10, falling five places from his qualifying grid slot. Teammate Jake Hughes experienced the struggles of Monaco, finding the chequered flag down in 17th.

The Lola ABT Yamaha drivers Zane Maloney and Lucas di Grassi could not build on their Miami success, resulting in a P14 finish for the former and a DNF for the latter, in what would turn out to be a forgettable weekend for di Grassi.

With Monaco’s races drawing to a close, drivers can finally rest and reset, in preparation for the next four races during the busy month of May. Monaco’s first double header proved successful, providing variable weather patterns for each round, testing driver abilities to drive on both dry and wet tracks.