Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Mercedes EQ

  • Round 16- Seoul E-Prix

    Free Practice 3-

    Edoardo Mortara headed the way in the final practice session ahead of the Hana Bank Seoul E-Prix Round 16 with the fastest time of the weekend – a 1m 21.019s.

    Mortara’s title charge ended in disappointment with a puncture in Round 15 but the Venturi driver is looking to support the team’s bid to outstrip Mercedes-EQ in the teams standings. The Swiss driver pipped Antonio Felix da Costa and Jake Dennis.

    Sacha Fenestraz made his bow in Formula E as he stepped in for Antonio Giovinazzi at Dragon / Penske Autosport with the Italian driver suffering a hand injury in Saturday’s race.

    Qualifying-

    Antonio Felix da Costa fired to an unstoppable Julius Baer Pole Position for Round 16, leaving Edo Mortara no scraps to feed on through a perfect lap. No driver had made more appearances on the front row this season more than Mortara.

    There was just one hundredth between them in the knockouts prior and da Costa piled the pressure on over the lap to secure pole by two tenths come the final couple of corners. Millimetre perfect – with no mistakes from the DS driver for his eighth pole position. He was the first and last Gen2 pole sitter…

    Venturi still looked well placed for their Teams’ scrap with Mercedes, Drivers table topper, Stoffel Vandoorne was behind in fourth. Mitch Evans has it all to do as he starts in the mid-pack after failing to progress to the Duels.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Da Costa, P2: Mortara, P3: Dennis, P4: Vandoorne, P5: Frijns, P6: Di Grassi, P7: Ticktum, P8: Vergne, P9: Guenther and P10: Sette Camara.

    Round 16-

    Stoffel Vandoorne steered his way to silverware with a second place finish in the Seoul E-Prix to make more than sure of sealing the 2021/22 ABB FIA Formula E Drivers’ World Championship as well as the Teams’ World Championship for Mercedes-EQ.

    Mortara checked out once he hit the front via a stunning dummy saw him complete a successful switchback on Julius Baer Polesitter, Antonio Felix da Costa on Lap 3. From there onwards, he managed the gap and used his energy perfectly to sign off his and Venturi’s campaign in style.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Mortara, P2: Vandoorne, P3: Dennis, P4: Frijns, P5: Askew, P6: Vergne, P7: Evans, P8: Cassidy, P9: Buemi and P10: Da Costa.

    World Champions; wow. It’s just the best feeling ever. Just look at the season we’ve had – the consistency and the car has been amazing and the team has done an incredible job – I think every single one of us deserves it. What we’ve accomplished is something special.

    Vandoorne on his Championship wins.

    This is huge. I’m just about holding it together at the moment. I’m so pleased for Stoffel – there isn’t anybody that deserves it more than him. He has been so consistent this year – everything he’s put into the building and team development – he’s been such an instrumental part of our success and to see him achieve this is a dream come true for him – it’s phenomenal. And then to do it in Mercedes-EQ’s final year as well. This is a very special moment.

    Team Principal Ian James.

    Thats the 21/2022 Formula E World Championship complete! A massive congratulations to Vandoorne and Mercedes on an incredible season.

    But when one season ends another one is coming… We are expecting a lot of driver news now the season has ended, but where will the World Champ go? There is a few possibilities… Keep your eyes peeled for more!

  • McLaren to enter Formula E

    McLaren Racing has confirmed that they will be competing in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship from next season, the start of the Gen3 era.

    McLaren, has long committed to competing with the best teams, at the leading edge of technology on the world’s biggest stages. The latest addition to the iconic teams’ racing portfolio is also squarely aimed at accelerating McLaren Racing’s understanding of EV technology as part of their sustainability journey whilst reaching a new, more diverse audience.

    The McLaren Formula E Team will be formed through the acquisition of the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team, expected to be complete later this year, following an agreement between both teams, that will see the reigning Formula E Word Championship team transfer into the McLaren family.

    Ian James, Team Principle of Mercedes EQ Formula E Team, will continue to lead the team, enabling a smooth transition as the team prepares to feature on the grid, under the iconic McLaren name.

    The name McLaren is among the greatest names in motorsport, since the team’s foundation by Bruce McLaren in 1963, and its Formula 1 debut in 1966, it has amassed 20 Formula 1 World Championship titles, more than 180 Grand Prix wins, three Indianapolis 500 victories and won the Le Mans 24 Hours at their first attempt.

    McLaren Racing always seeks to compete against the best and on the leading edge of technology, providing our fans, partners and people with new ways to be excited, entertained and inspired. As with all forms of the sport we participate in, Formula E has racing at the centre but will be strategically, commercially and technically additive to McLaren Racing overall. I firmly believe that Formula E will give McLaren Racing a competitive advantage through greater understanding of EV racing, while providing a point of difference to our fans, partners and people, and continuing to drive us along our sustainability pathway.

    Zak Brown, McLaren Racing CEO.

    My Opinion-

    Ahhhh finally!! After it being spoke about and rumours flying around, its finally confirmed. Good news for McLaren, now in another championship and they are overtaking the current World Champions.

    It will be interesting to see how the transition goes and who they decide on their driver line-up, could Stoffel Vandoorne be making a return to McLaren?…

    https://www.instagram.com/p/Cdh0uRDoAJc/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
  • Round 8- Berlin E-Prix

    Round 8- Berlin E-Prix

    FP1-

    Round 7 winner, Edoardo Mortara set the benchmark once again in FP1 as he set a 1m 06.373s at the reverse, clockwise layout of the Tempelhof Airport Circuit. Overnight work was carried out to switch from the traditional track to the anti-clockwise version, giving drivers a whole new circuit to get used to.

    Mortara adapted the quickest, with Porsche’s Andre Lotterer was up there once again on home soil. Avalanche Andretti’s Jake Dennis came home third. Pascal Wehrlein and front row qualifier, Alexander Sims rounded out the top five.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Mortara, P2: Lotterer, P3: Dennis, P4: Wehrlein, P5: Sims, P6: Vergne, P7: De Vries, P8: Di Grassi, P9: Da Costa and P10: Bird.

    FP2-

    ROKiT Venturi’s pace was still unbeatable in Free Practice 2, as Lucas di Grassi and Edoardo Mortara led the way with the first and second quickest times of the day.

    Di Grassi’s 1m 06.133s was two tenths quicker than his teammate managed in FP1 and 0.150s quicker than Mortara in FP2. The pair then lead Oliver Rowland, who went quickest in the first session ahead of Round 7.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Di Grassi, P2: Mortara, P3: Rowland, P4: Vandoorne, P5: Wehrlein, P6: Dennis, P7: Vergne, P8: Frijns, P9: Turvey and P10: Da Costa.

    Qualifying-

    ROKiT Venturi Racing’s Edoardo Mortara, held his own in qualifying as he grasped a second consecutive Julius Baer Pole Position in two days, he only had to wait 5 years and two came along at once!!…

    The shock of qualifying for Round 8 was seeing the top 3 in the championship not start higher than 7th… Vandoorne who came into the weekend leading the championship only managed P8, Vergne who is in 2nd in the Championship was behind the leader and the same for Mitch Evans also, who had been on a role until now.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Mortara, P2: Frijns, P3: De Vries, P4: Lotterer, P5: Da Costa, P6: Cassidy, P7: Di Grassi, P8: Vandoorne, P9: Vergne and P10: Evans.

    Round 8-

    Mercedes EQ driver and reigning champion Nyck de Vries, powered to a comfortable, managed drive to the race win, where he won the Season 7 title triumph. Mortara following 2.5s back, with Vandoorne making it two Mercedes EQ cars on the podiums and three Mercedes EQ powertrains in the top three. The Belgians third place finish also extended his silverware streak to three races.

    Lucas di Grassi came home fourth to extend that to four Mercedes powered cars in the top four in a dominant outing. Oliver Rowland made good progress from 10th to an eventual seventh. A bit of a weird weekend for DS Techeetah as Jean-Eric Vergne finished 9th…

    We’ve had a bit of a difficult ride the past three races. So, honestly I’m just very pleased to be here and to be back. Obviously it’s a bit of an emotional one for me. It was the perfect way to come back after a difficult day yesterday and the work put in with my engineers to find positives. Edo (Mortara) has been very strong all weekend so we definitely had to keep it clean, but the team managed very well on their side and I executed it, so I’m very pleased.

    Nyck de Vries on winning Round 8.

    The full top 10 are: P1: De Vries, P2: Mortara, P3: Vandoorne, P4: Di Grassi, P5: Frijns, P6: Da Costa, P7: Rowland, P8: Lotterer, P9: Vergne and P10: Evans.

    We now have just under 3 weeks until we are back for Round 9, for the Jakarta E-Prix on the 4th June!

  • Round 6- Monaco E-Prix

    Round 6- Monaco E-Prix

    Round 6 is here and we are in Monaco, lets take a look on how its gone!

    FP1-

    Reigning champion Nyck de Vries set the pace in the first session of the 2022 Monaco E-Prix, setting a 1m 31.154s, with Nick Cassidy doing well just a tenth of a second of the Dutchman’s laptime.

    Edoardo Mortara was next in the order but almost half a second back on home soil for ROKiT Venturi Racing, whilst the winner of the 2021 Monaco E-Prix rounded fourth.

    The full top 10 were: P1: de Vries, P2: Cassidy, P3: Mortara, P4: Da Costa, P5: Buemi, P6: Lotterer, P7: Bird, P8: Vergne, P9: Dennis and P10: Evans.

    FP2-

    Antonio Felix da Costa topped the timesheets in Free Practice 2 with a 1m 30.435s. The season 6 champion headed Jaguar TCS Racing’s double Rome winner, Mitch Evans by 0.2 seconds.

    A number of drivers were testing the limits before qualifying, with Dan Ticktum looks to steal every inch in the braking zones but firing his NIO 333 car long into the run off, outside Sainte Devote and Antonio Giovinazzi clipping the wall on the exit of the Swimming Pool- as did Jean-Eric Vergne who clouted the barrier, trying to improve on his fourth-fastest time.

    The session was red flagged half way through as Alexander Sims car stopped to halt with what looked like a technical issue. Robin Frijns had set the pace prior to the stoppage.

    The top 10 are: P1: Da Costa, P2: Evans, P3: Frijns, P4: Vergne, P5: Gunther, P6: de Vries, P7: Wehrlein , P8: Lotterer, P9: Mortara, P10: Dennis.

    Qualifying-

    Jaguar’s Mitch Evans, extended his hot streak as he got pole position blowing away Porsche Formula E Team’s Pascal Wehrlein by more than two tenths of a second.

    Wehrelin looked like he had it in the bag especially through Sainte Devote and up the hill, but Evans proved quicker than the German and extended his margin to 0.2 seconds by the tunnel. The Porsche driver then fell away and Evans flew to complete a 1m 29.839s the quickest time of the day.

    The full top 10 being- P1: Evans, P2: Wehrelin, P3: Vergne, P4: Vandoorne, P5: Di Grassi, P6: Lotterer, P7: Frijns, P8: De Vries, P9: Rowland and P10: Bird.

    Round 6-

    The Mercedes EQ of Stoffel Vandoorne mastered the streets of Monaco, with a tactical drive to win the 2022 Monaco E-Prix Round 6 and now lead the Drivers World Championship lead. The Belgian beat polesitter, Mitch Evans to the top step with Jean Eric-Vergne in third.

    Vandoorne emerged on the right side of a mid-race full course yellow and safety car which threw race strategies up in the air. Vandoorne had hit the front after then-leader Pascal Wehrlein retired from the lead with technical issues on lap 16.

    Evans couldn’t quite capitalise on the searing pace that saw him fly to Julius Baer Pole Position but 18 points and second spot after a Rome win-doubles sees the Jaguar driver’s hot-streak continues.

    The top 10 are: P1: Vandoorne, P2: Evans, P3: Vergne, P4: Frijns, P5: Da Costa, P6: Di Grassi, P7: Cassidy, P8: Buemi, P9: Dennis and P10: De Vries.

    We are back in two weeks for Round 7 & 8 for the Berlin E-Prix, on the 14th and 15th May.

  • Round 4- Rome E-Prix

    Round 4- Rome E-Prix

    Round 4 of the Formula E season has took place today, so lets take a look at how it is gone.

    FP1-

    Championship leader, Edoardo Mortara led the way in the first practice session with a time of 1m 40.022s, whilst Jaguar’s Mitch Evans came close behind in second followed by reigning champion, Nyck de Vries in third.

    All 22 cars made it out for the session, while Nick Cassidy spent time in the pits after only competing two laps with a suspected driveshaft issue, the Brit made it out towards the end to complete 6 laps in total.

    With the cool morning temperatures impacting breaking, a lockup from Jake Dennis saw the Brit avoid a narrow miss through the chicane. With seconds to go, Rowland suffered damage after contact was made with Jean-Eric Vergne, sent him into the wall on the chicane through Turns 12 and 13.

    The top 10 were: P1: Mortara, P2: Evans, P3: de Vries, P4: Da Costa, P5: Frijns, P6: Vandoorne, P7: Lotterer, P8: Sims, P9: Bird, P10: Sette Camara.

    FP2-

    The DS Techeetah and former Rome winner, Jean-Eric Vergne topped the timesheets in the final practice ahead of qualifying with a 1m 39.082s. Ahead of Pascal Wehrlein in second and Sam Bird who went third fastest.

    More problems for Mahindra’s Oliver Rowland, as he wrestled with his car sliding through Turns 12 and 13- the same spot he crashed earlier on. That same chicane stopped the running of Andre Lotterer as he clipped the inside of Turn 13 causing him to stop on track before a red flag came out.

    The top 10 were: P1: Vergne, P2: Wehrlein, P3: Bird, P4: Dennis, P5: de Vries, P6: Evans, P7: Da Costa, P8: Mortara, P9: Vandoorne and P10: Frijns.

    Qualifying-

    Stoffel Vandoorne claimed his 7th Formula E pole, as he lined up against Robin Frijns. Heading down in Turn 3, Frijns lost time in the final, handing the lead to the Mercedes-EQ driver. Despite his best effort to catch him, Frijns failed to make up for lost time.

    The pole marks Mercedes-EQ third Pole in four rounds, as the Mercedes power train continues to prove its dominance in the electric series. Could Stoffel turn the pole into a win? He already has a win here in the Eternal City last year, so it could very much be possible.

    The top 10 are: P1: Vandoorne, P2: Frijns, P3: de Vries, P4: Da Costa, P5: Vergne, P6: Dennis, P7: Wehrlein, P8: Lotterer, P9: Evans and P10: Rowland.

    Round 4-

    Jaguar TCS Racing, Mitch Evans takes victory on the streets of Rome for the second time in his career. Evans dominated, pulling away from the field to lead Envision’s Robin Frijns in 2nd and Mercedes EQ’s Stoffel Vandoorne in third.

    Despite starting on pole, Vandoorne let his lead slip on the streets, giving way to a determined Mitch who stormed to victory after starting ninth. For the reigning champ, it wasn’t all good though, the Mercedes driver failed to finish the race, retiring after slowing on track and slipping down the order.

    Home here, Antonio Giovinazzi, finished 18th after a steady race at the back of the grid- still adjusting to the challenging nature of driving on street circuits, Giovinazzi will be looking to make more of an impact in tomorrows race.

    Nudged from behind early on in the race, Edoardo Mortara behind, Oliver Rowland hit the barrier on Turn 7, with the cars behind being backed up. Shortly after this, Max Guenther crashed into the barrier on Turn 11- the safety car was brought out whilst his car was recovered.

    Times for tomorrow-

    Free Practice 3: 07:30am – 08:00am (BST), Qualifying: 09:40am – 10:55am (BST), Round 5: 14:00pm – 15:00pm (BST).

  • Round 1- Diriyah E-Prix

    And finally we have Formula E cars back on track! We had Free Practice 1 to start things off and for some it was good where as for others not so…

    In the first five minutes reigning champion Nyck de Vries struck the wall into Turn 3 with the rear of his Silver Arrow getting sideways and damage enough to force the Dutchman into retiring the car from the session which turned the whole course yellow.

    The track condition at Riyadh Street Circuit is always tough to manage during the opening session, the track evolves and gets faster as it cleans up. As conditions started to come to the drivers, Nissan e.dams new boy Maximillian Guenther set the target for the rest to chase mid-way through FP1. But it was Mahindra Racing’s new signing Oliver Rowland who hit the top of the timesheets at the end, with a 1m 10.559s, with Antonio Felix da Costa in 2nd and Jake Dennis in third.

    Going on to the second free practice session, it was Oliver Rowland again who took the top spot with Sam Bird whose won twice in Saudi Arabia was in 2nd by just 0.015. Third was Jake Dennis again making it an all British top 3.

    Rowland’s time was just over a second quicker than the times on Thursday due to the track. However it was the reigning champs who were down the order, with Stoffel Vandoorne 16th and Nyck a couple of spots back.

    Now onto qualifying- the new format for all the drivers but it was infact Mercedes’ Stoffel Vandoorne who took pole position. The final duel was between Stoffel and Jake (Dennis), Dennis originally flew off the line but his Andretti looked a lot looser than the Mercedes, and by the half-way point of the lap the Belgian had romped four tenths of a second clear.

    The top for qualifying are: P1: Vandoorne, P2: Dennis, P3: De Vries, P4: Lotterer, P5: Bird, P6: Cassidy, P7:Frijns, P8: Oliver Rowland, P9: Di Grassi, P10: Gunther.

    Now onto the race! It was the reigning champion taking the first race win of the season just like last year! And his team-mate bringing it home in second making the Mercedes EQ team have a 1-2!! What a way to start the season. The last podium spot going to Jake Dennis.

    The last couple of laps saw 4 drivers all battling for fourth position which involved Sam Bird, Lucas Di Grassi, Edoardo Mortara and Nick Cassidy. With Sam Bird making that fourth position.