The 2021-22 Formula E season has closed its doors with victory for Edo Mortara in the second round of the Seoul ePrixtriumph that allows the Swiss to be part of the history of the electric series by winning the 100th race of the championship and the last round of the ‘Gen2’ era of Formula E. All in all, the absolute leading role has been for Stoffel Vandoorne after achieving the title of Formula E World Champion. In addition, the Mercedes EQ team was able to celebrate this success with the team title.
António Félix Da Costa managed to retain the first position with some trouble on an Edo Mortara that came to go ahead of the Portuguese for a few meters. Behind, Jake Dennis, Stoffel Vandoorne and Robin Frijns kept their positions unchanged, while Dan Ticktum managed to climb to sixth place. After the usual lot of each start, although quite contained on this occasion, Mitch Evans managed to gain a position and place twelfth. Then, the real hostilities began in the leading group.
Edo Mortara overtook António Félix Da Costa in a maneuver to the limit in which both pilots touched, a circumstance that Jake Dennis also took advantage of to sneak in by sheer acceleration ahead of the poleman. Just behind, Dan Ticktum had to pit with some kind of problem, so he disappeared from the equation and handed sixth place to Lucas Di Grassi on a plate. Neither was Mitch Evans wasting time after gaining up to three positions in the subsequent laps at the start to place ninth.
Robin Frijns took advantage of the advantage that was being built behind him to activate the ‘attack mode’ for the first time, a movement that was imitated just ahead by Stoffel Vandoorne and António Félix Da Costa. In parallel, Pascal Wehrlein put an end to his good comeback with problems in his Porsche 99X Electric that left him out of the race. Nor did Nyck de Vries get rid of a breakdown that also eliminated him from the equation after passing through the pits. in head, Jake Dennis and Edo Mortara also activated the ‘attack mode’, without any change of position.
The halfway point of the race was reached with a brief leadership of Edo Mortara over his pursuersbut with bad news within Venturi Racing due to a puncture by Lucas Di Grassi that separated the Brazilian driver from the points zone and the formation of the fight for the teams’ title. A perfect setting for Stoffel Vandoorne and Mercedes EQ from the Belgian driver’s comfortable fourth positionclose to António Félix Da Costa but without any pressure from Robin Frijns from behind.
Maximilian Günther was the next victim of reliability problemsleaving the German driver stopped with his Nissan IM03 in the middle of the track. The presence of the Safety Car was already inevitable. The stewards took advantage of this neutralization to also remove Pascal Wehrlein’s Porsche, which had been present at one of the loopholes on the track since its breakdown. The process therefore took a little longer than necessary, so the race restarted with 14 to playto which we had to add the extra time due to the presence of the safety car.
The start was completely clean and Edo Mortara retained the first position, also managing to pass through the activation zone of the ‘attack mode’ without losing the lead against Jake Dennis. António Félix Da Costa followed Edo’s strategy, which was enough for him to beat Dennis on the outside. However, both riders touched each other and the Portuguese fell at the end of the peloton after getting caught in the escape. A maneuver that allowed Stoffel Vandoorne to be placed third, also activating his last ‘attack mode’. The rest of the platoon followed suit.
The extra 6 minutes and 45 seconds of the race served to confirm Jake Dennis’ 5-second penalty for his touch on António Félix Da Costa. Oblivious to this fact, Edo Mortara took the victory ahead of Stoffel Vandoorneonce the penalty was applied to a Jake Dennis who fell to third place. Enough result for Stoffel Vandoorne to celebrate the Formula E title alongside team champion Mercedes EQ. In the middle of the celebration of the German firm, Robin Frijns and Oliver Askew completed the ‘top 5’.
Photos: FIA Formula E