Thirteen drivers entered the final race of the Formula E season in contention for the World Championship title, but only one could walk out with the crown. Your season seven champion is Nyck de Vries from Mercedes.
Stoffel Vandoorne of Mercedes lined up in pole position for the second round of the Berlin ePrix and the final round of the Formula E season. Mitch Evans, unfortunately, failed to start from his second row starting position, which left Edoardo Mortara to crash into him — both of whom were title contenders and both of whom were able to safely exit their cars. The race was quickly red flagged.
The race didn’t restart with much promise; Jake Dennis, another title contender, appeared to lock up and crash into the wall at the exist of Turn 1. A full course yellow quickly followed.
The race went green with just under 37 minutes to go, with Vandoorne continuing to hold the lead. Thankfully, it was a much smoother start, with everyone making a clean first lap — but Oliver Rowland in second very quickly approached Vandoorne. He didn’t get a chance to make a move; instead, Norman Nato used Attack Mode to pass his way up through the field and take first place. Vandoorne quickly made a mistake, running wide in Turn 2, which saw both Alexander Sims and Rowland pass him. As more and more drivers began to activate Attack Mode, the order of the top 10 changed drastically.
Another safety car came out with just under 16 minutes to go after Lucas di Grassi ran Antonio Felix da Costa wide, leaving the latter driver crashing into the wall.
The race went green with just under 12 minutes left. Nato maintained his lead, but only just after the rest of the field had bunched up behind him. Nyck de Vries attempted to make a difficult pass into third place, but he ran wide and fell into a three-wide effort for fourth. Mercedes teammates de Vries and Vandoorne made a little contact with Andre Lotterer, with de Vries dropping back to seventh. It was a sketchy move for the championship-leading Mercedes team and the championship-leading de Vries.
De Vries attempted to make a late pass on Pascal Wehrlein and was pushed into the wall, bending his steering, but the driver was still able to continue. The driver’s intentions were fairly questionable; he was guaranteed the championship if he just drove it safely home.
Unfortunately for de Vries, it wasn’t easy; be was bumped by Jean-Eric Verge and passed by Sam Bird. He crossed the line in eigth place, which was enough to secure him a World Championship as a driver and for his Mercedes team. Meanwhile, Norman Nato won his first-ever Formula E race.
Top 10 in Berlin Round 2
- Norman Nato
- Oliver Rowland
- Stoffel Vandoorne
- Andre Lotterer
- Alexander Sims
- Pascal Wehrlein
- Sam Bird
- Nyck de Vries
- Rene Rast
- Tom Blomqvist
Top Five in Formula E Championship
- Nyck de Vries
- Edoardo Mortara
- Jake Dennis
- Mitch Evans
- Robin Frijns