Formula E: Redemption day in Rome for Vandoorne

Stoffel Vandoorne launched his assault on the drivers’ championship with a commanding win in the second race of the 2021 Rome E-Prix.  

Vandoorne had been determined to make up for the disappointment of the opening race of the weekend, when a collision with Porsche’s Andre Lotterer had wiped out his advantage of starting on pole before he ended the day in the barriers after clipping a manhole cover. 

Taking the chequered flag, the Mercedes pilot yelled on the team radio: “Redemption! This is what we should have had yesterday.”

Although Vandoorne held a four-second lead with 10 minutes remaining, a prolonged appearance of the safety car meant he began the final lap with the field bunched up on his tail. But nothing was going to stand in his way of taking top spot on the podium for the first time this season.  

 “It tastes good today to take home the victory,” he said. “It feels like we needed this yesterday, especially after the pole position and the speed we showed.

“We kept believing and I was confident in the car again today and made the moves when it counted and the team did the perfect strategy with the attack mode.

“In the end it made my life a little easier to have that gap with Alex Sims behind. 

“He was kind of catching at the end so with the safety car I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but I had my Fanboost left and used it on the last lap to be able to defend that position.   

“With Formula E, the amount of emotions you go through, through the day is just incredible.  Yesterday we had the high with the pole position in super pole and then the low with the finish of the race so it takes big swings during a day.

“To finish on a high is a super nice feeling.”

British driver Sims executed one of the moves of the day, catching Pascal Wehrlein napping at the end of a yellow-flag period to nip between the Porsche and a barrier to gain second place, which he protected to the finish line. 

“I had to breathe in going through that gap, it was pretty tight to the wall,” joked Sims.

“Fair play to Pascal for playing fair and not closing it once I’d committed so that was pretty good fun.

“It was a nice feeling as I scooted past him.”

Although Norman Nato steered his Rokit Venturi home in third, his car had exceeded the allowed energy use and he was disqualified.

That promoted Wehrlein into third, but he was still smarting from the earlier manoeuvre by Sims.

“Generally it’s a podium so that is good,” said the German driver. “But I was in the lead. In the beginning we seemed to be pretty quick. It was a bit similar to Riyadh to be honest, quick in the beginning but then losing a bit of pace.

“Sims, he passed me after the virtual safety car but it was still yellow for me, so I don’t know how he did that. That was a bit strange.”

“In the end there was not a lot I could do. Stoffel was driving on another planet.”

Nick Cassidy began the day on pole for Envision Virgin but reported a software issue that locked his brakes as he spun on the opening lap, allowing Nato to hit the front.

His lead didn’t last long, Wehrlein passing him confidently on the inside during lap three. But he too became the victim as Vandoorne took advantage of an early attack mode activation to force his way ahead of the pack. 

The key moment came when Wehrlein’s own attack mode was halted by a full-course yellow, helping Vandoorne protect his advantage. 

From that moment on the eventual race winner built a commanding lead and had there not been a late safety car leading to a last-lap dash at the end, he would have finished comfortably four seconds clear of the rest. 

The safety car appeared after Rene Rast’s Audi scattered debris across the track, having made contact with the barrier out of turn 19 and again into turn one. 

Championship leader Sam Bird was sandwiched out of the race in that final lap shootout, Nyck De Vries losing control of his Mercedes on the Jaguar man’s inside, carrying the two cars into Oliver Rowland who was turning his Nissan into the corner. 

2021 Rome E-Prix race two result

1 Stoffel Vandoorne (Bel, Mercedes) 25pts + 1pt for fastest lap; 2 Alexander Sims (GB, Mahindra) 18; 3 Pascal Wehrlein (Ger, Porsche) 15; 4 Edoardo Mortara (Swi, Rokit Venturi) 12; 5 Maximilian Guenther (Ger, BMW I Andretti) 10; 6 Mitch Evans (NZ, Jaguar) 8; 7 Antonio Felix Da Costa (Por, DS Techeetah) 6; 8 Tom Blomqvist (GB, Nio 333) 4; 9 Nico Mueller (Swi, Dragon/Penske) 2; 10 Sebastien Buemi (Swi, Nissan E.Dams) 1.

2021 Formula E driver standings

Leading positions after four rounds: 1 Sam Bird 43; 2 Mitch Evans 39; 3 Robin Frijns 34; 4 Stoffel Vandoorne 33; 5 Nyck de Vries 32; 6 Pascal Wehrlein 32; 7 Edoardo Mortara 30; 8 Jean-Eric Vergne 25; 9 Alexander Sims 24; 10 Antonio Felix Da Costa 21.