Co-Authored by Callum Newton & Emma Norgrove
Mitch Evans put on a clinic this weekend in Rome, managing his Jaguar TCS Gen3 Formula E car to the top of the podium on both Saturday and Sunday – from 8th and 4th on the grid respectively.
In race one, Evans took advantage of a good attack mode strategy to work his way up the grid throughout the race, taking 3rd with 16 minutes on the clock and the lead 8 minutes later. From there, the Kiwi, hailing from Auckland, never looked back as he built a 5 second gap before crossing the line in first place.
The second race on Sunday featured only one long, 8 minute attack mode instead of the normal 2 four minute bursts from the previous day. Evans however, used his natural overtaking ability to attack Jake Dennis, André Lotterer and Jean Éric-Verge, all before halfway through the race – and held off on activating attack mode until the last moment, using a risky yet effective strategy by hoping for a long extra stint after added safety car time. He retook positions he’d lost throughout the race by those who had already taken attack mode earlier, such as Robin Frijns, and came out the winner once again. Evans’ spectacular weekend has meant he has climbed the standings almost entirely, from only a solitary point to fifty-one. Now, he has thrust himself into the title fight out of nowhere, sitting fourth overall.
Other names who had excellent results this weekend included Robin Frijns and Jean-Éric Vergne. Starting 2nd on Saturday, Frijns quickly dispatched the ailing Mercedes EQs of Stoffel Vandoorne, defending from the Belgian’s partner, and reigning champion, fellow Dutchman Nyck de Vries, to lead a large majority of the race. He maintained his grid position to take his first podium of the weekend and another 18 points for his championship. The second race was more eventful for Frijns, who qualified 6th. He endured race long battles with Evans, JEV, Vandoorne and Lotterer including a stint in first with five minutes to go and defending from the fan-boosted Mercedes of Vandoorne into turn four. However, it was his efficient energy saving of the neon-green, Audi-powered Envision that allowed the reigning LMP2 World Endurance Champion to work his way towards the front during extra time and come home in 3rd for a second podium and the fastest lap. Frijns now sits second in the standings after his two podiums, combining with another 2nd place in Diriyah and a 7th place in Mexico City to give him 58 points.
Jean-Éric Vergne’s consistent weekend means the Frenchman, and two time champion, now leads the standings by two points from Frijns. A quieter first race saw JEV shunted into the wall by Jake Dennis after starting from 5th, but some steady recovery driving saw him into 3rd before losing out to Stoffel Vandoorne late on, leaving JEV just off the podium in 4th but ahead of rival Sam Bird and DS Techeetah teammate António Félix da Costa. Race two saw JEV maintain his pole position for a long stint of the race before losing out to Mitch Evans with twenty-four minutes on the clock. Later, he battled with fellow rivals Lotterer and Vandoorne before coming out 2nd in a one lap sprint after a late safety car. The yellow flag was caused by a re-overtake gone awry by Sam Bird’s Jaguar, pushing the Envision of Nick Cassidy into the wall at turn seven. JEV finished the weekend with a haul of 30 points, giving him 60 the championship so far after two points finishes in Diriyah and a podium in Mexico City.
Despite troubles for his teammate Nyck de Vries, Stoffel Vandoorne managed to hold steady in both races. After starting from pole in race one, Vandoorne fought until the end to finish 3rd and on the podium, while de Vries’ Mercedes EQ struggled to hold its energy, plummeting down the grid. Race 2 saw Vandoorne fight back to finish fifth – a highlight being his defence of Sam Bird’s attack mode armed Envision for some laps. De Vries, meanwhile, languished behind after a grid penalty for causing a collision with the Tag Heuer Porsche of Pascal Wehrlein in race one, left him down in 10th for the start. After failing to make any real ground, another collision with the Dragon-Penske of Sergio Sette Camara awarded him a second penalty of ten seconds, and last place if not for Oliver Askew’s own penalties, for overtaking under the safety car and causing a collision. Vandoorne now sits third and two points behind Frijns, on 56 – while de Vries’ failure to finish in the points this weekend has left him far behind in 8th with only 38 points in total.
Further down the grid, Sam Bird nursed his Jaguar TCS to an admirable 5th place in race one after losing large chunks of bodywork to a big lap one pile-up. The other victims of the collision were Oliver Rowland and Maximilian Günther. Rowland’s Mahindra was hit from behind by Mortara, launching him into the barrier at turn 8. Sam Bird clipped di Grassi to push him behind Rowland and leaving him stuck against the spun Mahindra. Günther, in turn, slammed into di Grassi’s Venturi, causing enough damage to his e.Dams to throw him into the barrier at turn 9 and end his race. Behind him, his teammate Sébastian Buemi joined the traffic with the NIOs of Oliver Turvey and Dan Ticktum. The Venturi of Mortara and Bird’s Jaguar slipped away to maintain their positions, alongside Cassidy’s Envision, Alex Sims’ Mahindra and the Andretti of Askew who started 14th, 15th and 19th respectively. With a bit of space, next came the Dragons of Sette Câmara and Antonio Giovinazzi who launched up the inside to avoid the carnage and progress up the order.
Elsewhere, poor energy management from an expected shorter added time meant Jake Dennis’ Andretti was left out to dry by his rivals, a sitting duck to those fighting at the front. In the end he finished 13th and well out of the points after starting 6th on the grid. The final points paying positions of race one were filled out by Mortara in 7th, in front of Wehrlein, Cassidy and Lotterer in 10th.
Race two saw a surprise double points finish from the NIOs of Oliver Turvey and Dan Ticktum, taking advantage of crashes and penalties to finish 7th and 10th from 22nd, dead last, and 20th on the grid. Elsewhere Jake Dennis retired from collision damage with di Grassi, who was penalised with five-seconds but still finished 8th overall, benefitting from an early collision between Mortara and da Costa, which left the former to retire from damage and the latter with a five-second penalty of his own. Buemi kept a clean race to fill out the points positions, finishing 9th. Antonio Giovinazzi leaves his home race still pointless with a retirement after his Dragon-Penske suffered a technical issue on lap seven.
The Rome E-Prix was yet another fine instalment of Formula E in 2022, one which has both narrowed and opened up the championship in different ways. Notably, none of the top three in the standings, JEV, Frijns and Vandoorne, have a race win to their name this season. Behind them sit Evans with two wins and plenty of momentum for Monaco. Lotterer’s clean nose has allowed him to sit in behind the leaders in 6th with 43 points, with race winners Mortara ahead with 49, and Wehrlein and de Vries bringing up the rear with 42 and 38 respectively. From there a gap emerges to the rest of the grid, meaning perhaps our championship contenders are already in play. But as Mitch Evans’ Roman Triumph has proven this weekend once again, that Formula E’s championship is anything but predictable.
Mercedes EQ’s constructors championship defence, despite a mixed bag of results in Rome, is still on target as they sit at the top of the standings with 94 points. Porsche’s consistency, despite a deficit of podiums anywhere other than Mexico City, means the team is sitting at a historical best of 2nd so far with 85 points. Next follows, closely, DS Techeetah, who gain positions thanks to some handiwork JEV and a points finish from da Costa. Even closer again is Venturi on 78, who have benefitted from the experience of Lucas di Grassi to sit 4th. The only team with two wins, Jaguar, comes next after jumping up the table thanks to Mitch Evans. They’re 5th with 73 points. Last of the current contenders is Envision, who suffered from Nick Cassidy’s bad luck, but Frijns has helped the team stay in the race with 68 points and earning them 6th on the table. Andretti’s poor form and lacklustre race pace mean they’re some way behind in 7th with only 28 points from four points finishes and one podium. Bringing up the rest is e.dams with 8 points; NIO who jump off the bottom with a double points finish this weekend on 7; Mahindra who have had a miserable showing so far on 4 points, and finally Dragon-Penske who are now the only team yet to score.