How Vandoorne recaptured Mercedes' winning feeling in Monaco

The Mercedes Formula 1 team is struggling, but its Formula E arm is in fine form at the moment and once again leads the drivers' standings courtesy of Stoffel Vandoorne. Here's how the Belgian took a well-judged Monaco victory to emerge at the head of the brewing four-way championship tussle

Jake Boxall-Legge May 2, 2022, 12:42 PM

It's fitting that Monaco, a principality famed for its casinos, continues to host a championship that can be likened to a roulette table. Of course, Formula E's new qualifying format has produced a little more method to its madness, but there's still a tremendous slice of luck involved in deciding its victors.

But it seems the roulette table was never Stoffel Vandoorne's calling. Instead, the Mercedes driver worked his way through the Monaco E-Prix weekend with the calculated cunning of a poker player. He knew his hand was good. He knew not the hands of the other players at the table, but it became apparent over the course of the race that his was simply more valuable. Those cards remained up the Belgian's sleeve, to be turned over only when the time was right.

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Author Jake Boxall-Legge

Jake Boxall-Legge Autosport’s Technical Editor. Having studied Automotive Engineering with Motorsport at the University of Hertfordshire, West Country-born Jake's original ambition was to design racing cars. During a year between studies in which he accidentally rekindled a love of writing, he took up a Master's in Motorsport Engineering at Oxford Brookes. Halfway through his master's year, he was offered a place on the Autosport Academy, conducting occasional freelance duties before becoming the press officer for Formula 2 and GP3 in 2018. Autosport offered him a return to the fold later that year to serve as its Technical Editor. His voice appears on a number of videos and podcasts, and can often be found writing about terrible Formula 1 cars in excruciating detail. In his spare time, Jake enjoys baking and blames his failure to make it past the Great British Bake-Off interviews on his tenuous grasp on choux pastry. His dream is to open a brunch cafe - and his willingness to make outrageous puns in inappropriate situations has earned him the contempt of his colleagues.