Diriyah, Hope, then a Series of Shocks to the System
Nyck de Vries (under licence and copyright FIA Formula E)
Formula E returned to action, a full six months after its previous competitive appearance, but anyone seeking escapism from the dark world beyond sport was to be disappointed. The first race, to be clear, was pure unalloyed joy, with a new winner in Nyck de Vries, and one of the best overtaking manoeuvres you’re going to see in any form of motorsport, as Edoardo Mortara secured second place.
There was, therefore, optimism that the second race on Saturday would provide similar pleasurable thrills. Instead, we had an accident for Mortara in free practice that would, in another era and category, have been career-ending, and an even more terrifying shunt for Alex Lynn which made him the second driver of the day sent immediately off to hospital.
There have been people through the years who have sought to separate politics from sport, but Reuters and the New York Times both report that Saudi authorities say they intercepted bomb-laden drones and a planned missile attack on Riyadh, the city next to which the Diriyah E-Prix is held. If true, credit must be given to the Saudi authorities who prevented the attack, although the alleged involvement of Houthi rebels from Yemen, if verified, shows that just as sport is a nation-branding tool wherever it is held, so too it can never separate itself fully from the geopolitical situation unfolding around it.
Race One - Friday
De Vries leads the field away (under licence and copyright FIA Formula E)
This was the Nyck de Vries race - the Dutchman dominated, in the true sense of the word, the day, taking fastest times in every practice session, in qualifying and superpole, and then leading every lap of the race. Much of the talk before the season began had been of the potential for this to be another title year for Mercedes-Benz, however most of the predictions had been in favour of Stoffel Vandoorne.
Vandoorne was at the sharp end of the field - he finished eighth - but he was held back by a poor qualifying session for the vast majority of those who went out in Group One, meaning he had to get there from 15th on the grid. De Vries had no such trouble - not only could he begin qualifying from a cleaner track in Group Two, but he had also been dialled-in since first practice, consistently topping the timesheets.
Mortara, while he took a more circuitous route to second, also had an excellent race, and showed how important the accumulation of marginal gains is over a race day with such short sessions and breaks, as explained in the first of a series of articles analysing an individual driver’s performance at races, over on Patreon. The time differential between himself and de Vries narrowed with each session, and he started on the front row.
The overtaking manoeuvre he pulled off to pass both Rene Rast and Pascal Wehrlein and reclaim second in the latter stages of the race was an all-time classic. Taking a similar calculated risk to Mika Häkkinen at Spa in 2000, Mortara used the speed difference between himself and the two drivers in front to go to Rast’s right and Wehrlein’s left prior to the slow turn-one chicane, something which will be in highlights packages for years.
The result was two very happy Mercedes-powered drivers, and it seemed like the precursor to a year where the products of Mercedes Benz Performance Powertrains would take some beating. They were joined by Mitch Evans of Jaguar on the podium.
Race Two - Saturday
The field prepares for the second Diriyah night race (under licence and copyright FIA Formula E)
With only one free practice session to iron out any issues from the first race, Saturday was always going to benefit those who had done well the previous day, and so it was no surprise to see de Vries near the top of the timesheets in that timed session. This time he was flanked by Robin Frijns and Nick Cassidy, Envision Virgin’s new partnership after Sam Bird’s departure for Jaguar at the end of the 2019-20 season. If Mercedes had the best powertrain out of the box, Audi was continuing to supply Envision Virgin with excellent equipment.
Unfortunately that session marred the rest of the action, with Mortara, in no apparent danger, trying the customary practice start that all drivers perform at the end of the allotted time. Rather than brake for the first turn, Mortara’s car did not show any visible reduction in speed, instead ploughing straight-on into the wall on the escape road. Though terrifying, it was not reported as particularly noteworthy on the world feed broadcast, and yet the impact led to Mortara being taken to hospital.
Thankfully the Swiss was shaken but otherwise well after the ordeal, and indeed was back at the circuit later hoping he could get in the car for the race. Had he been able to, he would have had to start form the back of the field, as all Mercedes-powered cars were prevented from qualifying by the FIA as tests were carried out on its powertrain. It was found that a failsafe in the car’s software had not triggered, but the FIA was later made satisfied that the flaw had been remedied, and cleared the works cars, as well as the identical Venturi machinery, to race.
While all this was happening, there was some of the mayhem we have become accustomed to in qualifying. In a three-car Group One, both Evans and Audi’s Rene Rast failed to cross the line in time for a flying lap, having been stuck behind Oliver Rowland’s Nissan edams, in a situation which has played itself out too many times to be a surprise to anyone, and which shows that, even at the highest level of motorsport, strategic errors can and will occur.
This contributed to an inverted-looking result at the end of qualifying, and to superpole being contested by Frijns, Bird, the two Dragon-Penskes of Sergio Sette Camara and Nico Müller, and the two NIO333s of Oliver Turvey and Tom Blomqvist. For both of Formula E’s back-of-the-grid teams from the previous season it was a welcome spur, but the joy was clear from NIO333 in particular. The team had been completely reconstituted after a takeover in 2019, and was forced to go into the previous season with year-old customer powertrains originally built by Penske. Now back with a whole new powertrain concept, it is great to see this team once again challenge the wealthier manufacturer teams in points-scoring positions.
The race began without Mortara due to his car taking too long to repair in spite of valiant efforts by the Venturi mechanics. Frijns pulled out a lead on the first lap, as Bird made it past the slow-starting Sette Camara. Antonio Felix da Costa, starting 10th, soon joined his DS Techeetah team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne, who had been seventh on the grid, as they charged up the field, sensing an opportunity to make hay, even with old powertrains for this race.
Such was the two champions’ desperation to earn early points and bragging rights, there was even a flashback to last season, as Da Costa put a small ‘reducer’ on Vergne close to the wall with the two drivers jostling for position. It was to count for nothing for Vergne - he lost his points finish due to failing to trigger Attack Mode the requisite number of times, having been saving his final activation for the closing laps.
Bird made it past Frijns just inside the 15-minute mark, but the field was bunched up by a safety car period after a hefty nudge from Pascal Wehrlein’s Porsche left Jake Dennis’s BMW i Andretti with such damage he was forced to pull to the side of the circuit. Frijns re-passed Bird with Attack Mode engaged after the Safety car had left the track, in one of a series of entertaining lead-swaps between the two former team-mates. Bird came out on top in the end, though not in the way any racing driver likes to win, with the field brought in following a red flag.
Unfortunately, the entertainment was to end early, Lynn’s Mahindra being launched over the top of Evans’s Jaguar, landing upside down, in an incident that Formula E did not show on its world feed, and referred to only obliquely afterwards. Evans said after the race that he had stopped and spoken to Lynn while the British driver was still stuck in his car, and that he was suffering some knee pain. It is a miracle it was nothing more, and testament to how well-built, and rigorously crash-tested, the Gen2 Formula E chassis is. Motorsport really can never be safe.
Like this? Join Motion E on Patreon for even more in-depth analysis