Race report
Formula E Berlin ePrix II
Berlin E-Prix: De Vries denies Mortara back-to-back wins
Nyck de Vries masterminded a controlling victory in the second Berlin E-Prix on the reversed Tempelhof layout, passing polesitter Edoardo Mortara at the start as Mercedes ran riot at its home Formula E round.
Jake Boxall-Legge
Edited: May 16, 2022, 4:25 AM
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The reigning Formula E champion looked imperious in the lead, having wrested control of the race as early as the first corner from Mortara with a surprise launch down the inside from third on the grid.
Mortara, who was perhaps preoccupied with trying to defend from fellow front-row starter Robin Frijns, left a smidgen of space on the inside of the corner which de Vries took with glee, scooping up the lead and immediately beginning to build a break over the Mercedes-powered Venturi.
De Vries then took the initiative with his attack mode activation - this time, a solitary attack mode spanning eight minutes - and briefly conceded the lead back to Mortara by picking up the 250kW power mode on lap 9, but repassed two laps later into the first corner once more.
From there, the Dutchman rarely looked threatened, although Mortara tried a slightly different attack mode strategy to try and resolve his first-corner disappointment and catch back up to de Vries.
Waiting for the other frontrunners to run out of attack mode, a strategy which worked for his victory on Saturday, Mortara hung on until lap 15 - six laps later than de Vries, Antonio Felix da Costa and Stoffel Vandoorne - to enter the realm of 250kW power.
With the incentive to start making moves through the field after dropping to fifth, Mortara cleared Andre Lotterer, Vandoorne and da Costa on consecutive laps to return to second, setting about eating into de Vries' lead.
But Mortara couldn't quite contend with de Vries' pace and energy, where the gap remained at around 2.5s throughout the second half of the race as the Mercedes driver had the race in the palm of his hand.
Thus, de Vries collected his first win since the Diriyah season opener, 2.454s clear of Mortara - who now moves up to second in the drivers' championship following his impressive haul of points from Berlin.
Vandoorne put together a second consecutive charge from the fourth row to the podium, battling among the likes of Frijns, Lotterer, da Costa and Lucas di Grassi as the quintet sought to claim the final step on the rostrum.
Clearing Frijns for good on lap 26, Vandoorne then fired his way past da Costa and began to parley over third place with di Grassi - and three laps from the end, the Belgian squeezed past the Brazilian to ensure Mercedes had two spots on the podium.
Di Grassi finished fourth, locking out the top four positions for Mercedes-powered cars, as Robin Frijns recovered from a botched attack mode activation to finish fifth - albeit under investigation.
On the final lap, Frijns was bidding to pass da Costa into Turn 6 and nudged the back of the DS Techeetah driver - almost sending da Costa into the wall but for the latter's excellent save into the braking zone.
Da Costa had cleared a fading Rowland to ultimately finish sixth, as the Mahindra driver managed to fend off Lotterer to finish seventh.
Jean-Eric Vergne fell out of the runner-up spot in the championship battle with an off-colour race, having passed Mitch Evans for ninth to double his points score as the Jaguar driver completed the top 10
Sam Bird was just 1.1s behind his teammate, waiting until very late to use his attack mode activation to enact a late-race charge after a difficult qualifying session.
Berlin E-Prix - Race results:
Cla # Driver Team Gap 1 17 Nyck de Vries
Mercedes 2 48
Edoardo Mortara
Venturi 2.454 3 5
Stoffel Vandoorne
Mercedes 6.936 4 11
Lucas di Grassi
Venturi 8.165 5 4
Robin Frijns
Virgin Racing 13.829 6 13
Antonio Felix da Costa
Techeetah 14.387 7 30
Oliver Rowland
Mahindra Racing 15.518 8 36
Andre Lotterer
Porsche Team 15.845 9 25
Jean-Eric Vergne
Techeetah 18.831 10 9
Mitch Evans
Jaguar Racing 21.722 11 10
Sam Bird
Jaguar Racing 22.875 12 94
Pascal Wehrlein
Porsche Team 25.412 13 27
Jake Dennis
Andretti Autosport 27.012 14 23
Sébastien Buemi
DAMS 29.559 15 28
Oliver Askew
Andretti Autosport 33.359 16 22
Maximilian Gunther
DAMS 35.775 17 3
Oliver Turvey
NIO Formula E Team 40.044 18 29
Alexander Sims
Mahindra Racing 41.542 19 7
Sergio Sette Camara
Dragon Racing 41.860 20 33
Dan Ticktum
NIO Formula E Team 51.648 21 37
Nick Cassidy
Virgin Racing 55.192 22 99
Antonio Giovinazzi
Dragon Racing 1'01.933 View full results
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