A devasting end to the Berlin E-Prix for the Envision Racing squad with both cars not finishing the race due to technical issues.
After another impressive qualifying for Robin Frijns, starting in P4, and the optimism of Sébastien Buemi being able to charge through the field from P17, both drivers suffered the same issue caused by debris pulling out the extinguisher loops and stopping the cars.
Looking ahead to the final two rounds of the season, the team will conduct a thorough analysis of the race and the weekend as a whole to extract key learnings and insights. This process will be crucial in ensuring that the season finale in London, taking place in two weeks, is approached with maximum preparation and performance potential.
QUALIFYING
After a wet FP3 session, in which Buemi topped the timesheets, the sun finally made an appearance, and the circuit started to dry out in time for qualifying. Both Envision Racing drivers embarked onto the track during Group B, and begun the 12-minute session strong, with both setting positive lap times in the opening stages.
As the circuit continued to dry, the lap times plummeted, and Frijns was able to place himself into the top four and progress through to the duels. Unfortunately, Buemi wasn’t able to join his team-mate into the next phase of qualifying and missed out by a small margin, finishing P9 in the group.
Frijns faced Antonio Felix Da Costa in the quarterfinals, which proved to be an incredibly tight shootout, with the pair running closely throughout the lap. Frijns just missed out by under a tenth of a second, but after all duels had been completed and penalties were applied, the Dutchman classified in P4 at the end of the session.
THE RACE
The E-Prix started off promising for the Silverstone-based squad, with Robin Frijns maintaining his starting position of P4 during the opening stages. The nature of the race and energy management required caused the ‘peloton’ style racing to kick off, with drivers swapping places every corner of every lap. Frijns kept his cool and held his ground in the top four.
Disaster first struck for the team on Lap 20, when Buemi’s car displayed critical warning lights to stop the car, thus ending his race just at the point in which the Swiss was ready to begin his charge through. The reason for the error was an incredibly unfortunate incident, in which flying debris caught the extinguisher hook on Buemi’s car and opened it – this automatically activates the car to stop.
The race continued on, and Frijns found himself in the lead briefly before slotting into P5. As the race progressed though, Frijns wasn’t able to hold his position and fell down the order to P13 before the exact same incident as his team-mate occurred on his car – an almost unbelievable share of bad luck for the team.
It was a frustrating conclusion to the weekend, particularly given the strong pace shown by both cars across the event. However, Sébastien Buemi’s P7 finish in Round 13 ensured the team salvaged some valuable points from an otherwise challenging outing.
Driver Standings (after Rd14)
- Oliver Rowland, 184pts
- Pascal Wehrlein, 125pts
- Taylor Barnard, 112pts
- Nick Cassidy, 102pts
- Antonio Felix Da Costa, 101pts
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10. Sebastien Buemi, 69pts
20. Robin Frijns, 17pts
Team Standings (after Rd14)
1. TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team, 226pts
2. Nissan Formula E Team, 204pts
3. DS Penske, 168pts
4. Jaguar TCS Racing, 162pts
5. NEOM McLaren Formula E Team, 143pts
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9. Envision Racing, 86pts
