Doubleheader: FE Berlin Weekend Recap

This weekend the FIA Formula E Championship had their second double race weekend of the season in the German capital, Berlin. Here is how it went.

(Image Credit to Racer)

Race 1:

Edoardo Mortara could yet again start from pole on the first race of a double header and starting on second for his home race was the championship leader, Pascal Wehrlein. The two title-contenders were then followed up by the British Nissan driver, Oliver Rowland who started in third.

The start was controlled chaos - very tight and close but without any big incidents and despite starting second, Wehrlein got overtaken by Rowland in turn 1 and eventually dropped down to the lower reaches of top 10 to conserve energy and mount a late attack. Meanwhile, teammate Nico Müller who started on sixth, started to drop back to save energy as well.

During Lap 6, for the first time in his Formula E career, Zane Maloney, took the lead of the race until he was overtaken by both Mortara and Rowland, pushing him down to third.

Three laps later in Lap 9, Rowland took the lead from Mortara, but only for a short moment of time, as we saw a new race leader, Nick Cassidy who overtook them both on the outside.

The driver who recently announced his retirement after this season, Lucas Di Grassi also spent some time as the race leader and with his teammate, Maloney, the two drivers ran P1 and P2 for a few laps for the first time for Lola Yamaha ABT.

On Lap 19, after having dropped to 11th, Wehrlein had a clash with Andretti driver, Jake Dennis, that really compromised his home race. The clash led to a puncture which forced him to limp back into the pits and eventually came out in 19th.

A few laps later, in Lap 21, different strategies came into play, as drivers like Cassidy and Dennis took their mandatory Pit Boost, while race leader Rowland, Mortara, Maloney and Müller stayed out.

Staying out proved to be the right strategy, as Rowland - even after taking his Pit Boost at the end of Lap 25 - still stayed in the lead of the race by Lap 29 until he was overtaken by Müller who was using his attack mode meanwhile Cassidy goes wide to go into attack mode as well, dropping him down to 6th.

By Lap 36, Müller was still leading the race while further down Dennis managed to overtake Penske driver, Taylor Barnard and Cupra Kiro driver, Pepe Marti for 6th place.

Strategy played a big role in this race, but Müller was the one to execute it the best as he finally took his first Formula E victory home after four seasons on the grid.

With no safety cars or full-course yellows in the second half of the race, the German driver, Wehrlein never made it back into the points after pitting and ended up finishing 19th, which meant losing the championship lead to Mortara who finished 4th.

Finishing second we had Cassidy, who had a very strategic and controlled race all the way through and last on the podium was Oliver Rowland, who finished 3rd.

(Image Credit to Pit Debrief)

Race 2:

Pascal Wehrlein took pole at Round 8 - to continue Porsche’s strong home weekend and hopefully get redemption from his Race 1 - followed up by Taylor Barnard on second and Nick Cassidy on third.

The German driver set a 57.292 in the final duel to clinch pole over Barnard whilst the then championship leader, Edoardo Mortara started 10th and Mitch Evans, the winner from Race 1 started 12th.

A difficult qualifying left Rowland starting down the order, and even more so when the lights went out and he didn't have quite the same getaway as the others cars which led to him running down in P20.

Wehrlein also had a tough start, but managed to keep the lead until Barnard made an impressive move for the lead that made the home hero drop to third.

Though the start wasn't ‘chaotic’, there were many small moves like Edoardo Mortara and Nyck de Vries eventually making their way up to P4 and P5 in Lap 4 until a multi-car fight for 3rd place led to a collision between De Vries and Cassidy that caused them both to immediately drop out of the top 10.

A very vocal Cassidy was found on the radio to his team shortly after “This De Vries is such an idiot, man. Why does he drive like this? We’re four-wide under braking and he moves. It’s funny he gives me sh*t about Imola [where Cassidy made a mistake on cold tyres] and says he never makes a mistake in WEC."

On Lap 6 Envision Racing driver, Joel Eriksson, overtook his teammate Sébastien Buemi for the lead of the race, meanwhile polesitter Wehrlein tumbled down to P6.

In the background, the second home hero Maximilian Günther had been making up places after starting from 14th and on Lap 8, he took the lead from Swedish driver, Eriksson. The field remained tight as the leading group covered by barely a few seconds, as drivers delayed activating Attack Mode and focused on positioning.

After having surged from 10th place, Oliver Rowland could take the lead for Mahindra Racing in Lap 16, until Buemi soon fought back to reclaim the lead for Envision Racing.

Though Günther still remained a central figure in the battle soon returned to the lead with another decisive move, setting a new fastest lap in the process.

The back-and-forth battle for the lead continued as Buemi again took the lead back whilst holding a slight energy advantage over Günther, which could prove decisive as the race unfolded.

Meanwhile further down the order, Rowland - who had fallen down to P20 - had surged up to take the lead and really extended his presence by setting a new fastest lap as more and more drivers started to use their Attack Mode.

When Norman Nato had completed his charge - having climbed from 16th - he could now take the lead. a stint where he managed his energy effectively and even built a small gap in the tight field.

Mitch Evans had quietly driven a remarkable comeback from 18th to now taking the lead from Nato on Lap 27. Here he used Attack Mode to full effect, timing his move perfectly before his extra power expired and reshaping the order at the front.

The leading group was now filled with lots of drivers who initially had started out of the top 15.

Up to ten drivers ran Attack Mode simultaneously, turning the race into a strategic battle with 10 laps and Wehrlein briefly reclaimed the lead, but Evans soon responded by activating Attack Mode again and retaking the lead.

A brief Full Course Yellow for a slippery surface neutralised the race and got the field even more tightly compressed, which just added further tension to the closing laps.

But once racing resumed, Evans kept his lead until the very end despite having drivers from 17th, 18th or pole position fighting him for the win.

Evans secured his 16th Formula E win, followed up by Rowland in second after an impressive charge through the field and Wehrlein in third who could now take his championship lead back.

Article written by Laura Friis