Diriyah E-Prix Race Two, 2021-22: Mortara and Venturi's Statement of Intent
(copyright FIA Formula E)
The second race of the double-header Diriyah E-Prix which opened the Formula E season may have been more of a curate’s egg of a race than the one which preceded it a day earlier. Still, it featured controversy, a mixed field putting an end to the Mercedes dominance we had seen beforehand in the weekend, and an ever-popular winner in the form of the humble but hardy Edoardo Mortara, who gave Venturi a first victory in what could be a very good season indeed for the Monegasque team.
The start was relatively clean for almost everyone, with only Alexander Sims in the lurid Mahindra slipping wide at the first corner. Oliver Rowland, his teammate, made up a few positions as the field went green, while Mortara held off Robin Frijns’ Envision for second.
Five minutes into the race, Rowland and Jake Dennis took unconventional action in an attempt to break with the rest of the field, being the first drivers to trigger Attack Mode. While this was happening, Stoffel Vandoorne took rather more direct action in an attempt to cut through the field, having missed out on the knockout stages of qualifying. He dived past Oliver Askew in the Andretti at the favourite passing spot of everyone, Turn 18.
A few seconds later, Askew passed the underperforming DS Techeetah of Antonio Felix da Costa, who wore a face like thunder all day, after a misunderstanding of the start lights at the end of the pit lane caused the Portuguese to have his duels time cancelled, relegating him to seventh on the grid, a position which he was to be unable to maintain in the race.
There was plenty of jostling at the front, with Nyck de Vries having led from pole, but being placed under increasing pressure by the Venturis of Lucas di Grassi and Mortara. Di Grassi put in a contact-filled move into Turn 18 on de Vries, in a manoeuvre which was adjudged by the stewards to need no further action after an investigation. With de Vries falling back down the field, and later to suffer further contact damage after another incident with Jean-Eric Vergne’s Techeetah, this was not the kind of day Mercedes had in mind, but with the Venturis stretching their legs in front, it is clear that the Brackley powertrain remains the class of the field.
Frijns finished strongly to pass di Grassi before the Safety Car came out for Alexander Sims, who lost control of the Mahindra on the marbles and slammed into the wall, meaning that the race ended under full-course-yellow conditions.
The top ten at the end was an overjoyed Mortara, from Frijns, di Grassi, Andre Lotterer, Jake Dennis with another strong, consistent, race, Vergne, Vandoorne, Rowland, Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein, and de Vries.