VERGNE FINALLY CLAIMS FORMULA E CROWN
COMPLETES HIS MISSION
This was a long time coming for Jean-eric Vergne. His most recent title – the British Formula 3 crown – came back in 2010. But when it did in Formula E’s 2017/18 season-four finale, it came very fast indeed – all the way from the back of the grid.
Vergne had looked set to top the group qualifying segment for race one, but both he and his Techeetah team-mate Andre Lotterer were thrown out of the session after they exceeded the maximum power allowance on their flying laps. The issue was caused by “a very small update on the power unit software for reliability reasons,” according to team boss Mark Preston.
The Techeetah pair lined up 18th and 19th with Vergne in front, while Sebastien Buemi started on pole ahead of Mitch Evans and Nico Prost, with Daniel Abt the highest Audi driver in fifth and Lucas di Grassi in 11th. Vergne’s title rival Sam Bird started 14th after failing to make it out of group one and into superpole.
Abt and di Grassi rose to the front in a way that was almost inevitable given Audi’s recent form. The long race distance and overtaking opportunities at the Brooklyn track played perfectly to its efficient power unit’s strengths. By lap 20 of a scheduled 45 they ran 1-2 with Abt in front.
Bird rose into the points but he could not follow di Grassi, his pre-race predictions of Virgin Racing struggling with its inefficient and heavy car coming all too true.
Behind him, for the early part of the race, Vergne allowed Lotterer to move ahead off the line. The pair picked up places methodically, rising up the order until they ran fifth and sixth by lap 29. Here, Lotterer dutifully obeyed a team order and let Vergne through. Bird had to make it to eighth to keep the title alive but wound up one place short.
Audi clinched another 1-2, but it wasn’t the reasonably simple affair it had enjoyed in Berlin. Here, di Grassi took the spoils after passing Abt with what team boss Allan Mcnish would later call a “pretty robust” move on lap 24. Abt was not impressed as he had been under the impression he would not be attacked before or after the car swaps as a result of radio calls urging him not to take any risks. But Mcnish later clarified that this was a “miscommunication or a misunderstanding”.
Buemi completed the podium for the first time since Mexico City in March. Tom Dillmann, standing in at Venturi once again for Edoardo Mortara, who was racing for Mercedes in the DTM ar Zandvoort, was a superb fourth ahead of Vergne and Lotterer.
Race two was all about the teams’ title – Techeetah vs Audi. Lotterer and Vergne lined up second and third behind Buemi – on pole for a second race in succession – but ahead of Abt and di Grassi, who crashed at the right-hander of Turn 2 on his superpole lap.
There was drama right from the off. Vergne leapt from third with a perfectly delivered start and outmuscled Buemi to seize first at Turn 1, with more brilliant judgement from both preventing contact at the left-hander. Lotterer also rocketed off the line, but he had in fact jumped the start and was given a 10-second stop/go penalty as a result.
That mistake had big ramifications, as, once again, the Audis surged up the order. Di Grassi swarmed Vergne for lap-after-lap of the 43-tour race after dispatching Buemi early on.
But the champion held firm, even when the outgoing title-holder barged the rear of his car at the final corner in a tense exchange that concluded with a thrilling four-car chase to the line.
Vergne won by 0.508s over di Grassi, with Abt third and Buemi fourth, while Bird finished 10th after a “pretty dull” race, and as a result dropped to third in the final drivers’ standings behind di Grassi. Lotterer recovered from being P15 after his penalty to finish ninth. But it wasn’t enough. Having led the teams’ championship since Santiago, Techeetah lost the title by two points to Audi.
Vergne says he has turned his life around and is no longer the same person he was when he first arrived in FE back in 2014. Helping to build the Techeetah squad and the focus that required is something he points to as a reason for his new outlook and the benefits that brings. A more settled personal life has helped him too and he has obviously learned how to lead and motivate.
“I see winning the title as another step in the journey I’m on,” he said. “A lot of things will come for me in the future and I needed to get back my confidence and [with] all the work I produced, I can see the result of it through the wins and podiums. But winning the title was something I needed for my own confidence and also just for my mentality of working hard and giving me even more motivation to keep working hard. Because I know now it really pays off. I’m going to keep on doing that next year even more.”