Formula E: Vergne Wins Action-Packed First Race In Rome

Calum Gill 17:10 10/04/2021

Jean-Éric Vergne won a dramatic Rome E-Prix that ended under safety car conditions as race leader Lucas di Grassi triggered a late shunt that eliminated polesitter Stoffel Vandoorne.

DS Techeetah driver Vergne bagged a somewhat fortunate 10th championship win over the Jaguar Racing pair of Sam Bird and Mitch Evans, who had started way down in 10th and 12th.

Mercedes racer Stoffel Vandoorne led the field away under the safety car as a result of light drizzle between qualifying and the race that had dampened the circuit. But when the green flag conditions eventually arrived, second-starting Porsche driver André Lotterer made a near-immediate charge for the victory by lunging on the approach to the Turn 7 left-hander.

As Vandoorne closed the gap, the pair collided. Lotterer managed to continue in seventh, but was later hit with a five-second penalty for the contact, which forced Vandoorne down the escape road before rejoining in 13th place.

That gave Nissan e.dams charger Oliver Rowland an unlikely lead after the Brit’s promising qualifying lap was curtailed by a wall tap that bent the steering. Rowland appeared comfortable in first place but his lead was brief as he was handed a drive-through penalty for exceeding the permitted energy use, which dropped him well out of contention.

This gave fourth-starting di Grassi his turn in the lead as he traded places with Vergne. The two champions cycled through their two uses of the four-minute attack mode boost, dropping from first place each time.

Vergne had taken the net lead of the race, before di Grassi got past at turn 4. However, the Brazilian dramatically slowed across the start line between Turns 6 and 7, which triggered a shunt that ended the race under neutralised conditions. As di Grassi slowed, the strong recovery of Vandoorne was wiped out as the Belgian moved off line to avoid the Audi.

This sent him over the harsh bumps on the outside line, where the rear of his car stepped out and he crashed heavily into the wall. His unsighted team-mate Nyck de Vries had nowhere to go, colliding with the sister Mercedes and slapping the wall to spell a double retirement. A full-course yellow was initially imposed to neutralise the race before a full safety car was deployed.

With the race not resuming, that allowed Bird and Evans on to an unlikely podium, having both consistently delivered incisive overtakes to demote Lotterer and Envision Virgin Racing driver Robin Frijns.

Their combined result, the best-ever for both Jaguar Racing cars, stretches the team’s lead in the championship as Frijns, struggling to make up a deficit in useable energy, stemmed the loss of places to finish fourth.