Hyderabad ePrix Race Review
Vergne wins inaugural Hyderabad ePrix
Jean-Eric Vergne kickstarted his season with a superb victory in Hyderabad. Vergne beat Envision’s Nick Cassidy to the race win whilst Antonio Felix da Costa picked up his first podium for Porsche.
The Most Notable Moments
Mitch Evans started on pole and he covered off Jean-Eric Vergne at the start. Early on in the race, Edoardo Mortara went deep into turn 3 and he broke his front wing on the back of Nick Cassidy’s Envision car and was forced to pit for repairs. Sebastian Buemi then overtook Jean-Eric Vergne at the same corner on lap 7 and due to Mitch Evans taking attack mode, Buemi was now in the lead of the race. After the first round of attack modes at the front, Sebastian Buemi led from Jean-Eric Vergne and Mitch Evans whilst Sacha Fenestraz was in a brilliant 4th position. However, on lap 13, carnage occurred as Sam Bird, whilst attempting to overtake Fenestraz, went too deep and tagged his teammate, spinning Evans around. This collision ended up forcing both Jaguar’s to retire whilst Sacha Fenestraz and Maximillian Gunther got held up in the carnage. Two laps later, JEV took the lead with an overtake on Sebastian Buemi and a few laps later, the top 4 was Vergne, Cassidy, Buemi and Jake Dennis who was once again climbing through the field well. On lap 23, the safety car was brought out after Jake Hughes spun into the wall. If this sounds weird, that’s because it was a weird incident. When the race restarted, DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne lead from the Envision duo of Nick Cassidy and Sebastian Buemi, Avalanche Andretti’s Jake Dennis and NEOM McLaren’s Rene Rast. However, Rast drove through the back of Dennis’ car and this incident took both guys out of the running; a very frustrating moment for the Brit. With just a few laps to go, Vergne was holding Cassidy off, but the Kiwi driver had nearly 4% more energy than the former 2-time Formula E Champion. However, Cassidy wasn’t able to get through and JEV held on to take a crucial victory in India. Meanwhile, Sebastian Buemi was given a post-race, 17-second penalty and this saw him drop from a podium position to P15.
Drivers who Impressed
Jean-Eric Vergne was super cool in this race and he fully deserved his race victory. Nick Cassidy can be happy with a P9 to P2 drive whilst Antonio Felix da Costa should be delighted with his podium. The Season 6 champion started 13th on the grid. Da Costa’s teammate Pascal Wehrlein also went from 12th to 4th whilst Sergio Sette Camara went from 15th to 5th in Nio 333’s best result for over 5 seasons. Rowland, Nato, Vandoorne and Lotterer can be happy to walk out of this weekend with points whilst Sacha Fenestraz, despite finishing 12th, deserves a massive shootout as I genuinely think he could’ve finished on the podium if he hadn’t been caught up in the Jaguar collision.
Drivers who Struggled
Edoardo Mortara made a silly error and went into the back of Nick Cassidy. It’s kind of crazy that Mortara ended up with a point, but he’ll be really frustrated as a podium was on for him given how crazy the rest of the race was. Lucas di Grassi was just poor this weekend, he was nowhere whilst Dan Ticktum and Kelvin van der Linde retired early on for some reason. Sam Bird will be haunted by this day for a while, especially given the fact that a double podium was on for the team. As for NEOM McLaren, Jake Hughes made a silly error whilst Rene Rast’s mistake ruined another driver's race.
Overall Race Results
Jean-Eric Vergne: 46:01.099
Nick Cassidy: +0.400
Antonio Felix da Costa: +1.859
Pascal Wehrlein: +2.855
Sergio Sette Camara: +3.523
Oliver Rowland: +7.138
Norman Nato: +7.318
Stoffel Vandoorne: +7.564
Andre Lotterer: +8.703
Edoardo Mortara: +9.073
Nico Mueller: +10.622
Sacha Fenestraz: +11.635
Maximillian Gunther: +15.446
Lucas di Grassi: +15.999
Sebastian Buemi: +17.735
Jake Dennis: +1:10.562
Rene Rast: DNF
Jake Hughes: DNF
Sam Bird: DNF
Dan Ticktum: DNF
Mitch Evans: DNF
Kelvin van der Linde: DNF
Drivers’ Standings:
Pascal Wehrlein: 80pts
Jake Dennis: 62pts
Jean-Eric Vergne: 31pts
Sebastian Buemi: 31pts
Nick Cassidy: 28pts
Teams’ Standings:
TAG Heuer Porsche: 101pts
Avalanche Andretti: 78pts
Envision Racing: 59pts
NEOM McLaren: 53pts
Jaguar TCS Racing: 42pts
