Monaco glory for Vergne (DS Techeetah/Michelin)

Pole-sitter Jean-Eric Vergne collected his second win of the 2018/2019 FIA Formula E Championship in Monaco to go top of the provisional Drivers’ standings. Oliver Rowland (2nd, Nissan e.dams/Michelin), Felipe Massa (3rd, Venturi Formula E Team/Michelin) and Pascal Wehrlein (4th, Mahindra Racing/Michelin) made it four different teams in the day’s top-four, blanketed by just 1.439 seconds! 

Overtaking is notoriously hard in Monaco and grid positions have a habit of playing a predominant role in the final outcome there. And this was the case again today when Vergne inherited pole after Rowland was handed a three-position penalty (carried over from Paris due to a collision) following his domination of qualifying.

Building on his recent success in China, Vergne shrugged off pressure from his chasers to lead from lights-out to the chequered flag in his Michelin-equipped DS E-Tense F19.

Pascal Wehrlein (Mahindra Racing/Michelin) was deprived of second place by a straight-on on Lap 9 which handed podium footings to Rowland and Massa who ultimate bagged second and third. The Brazilian celebrated the home race of Monaco-based Venturi with his first top-three result in Formula E.

The afternoon’s fastest race lap was the work of Wehrlein who showcased the consistency of his Michelin Pilot Sport tyres by posting a time of 52.385s on the 46th of the race’s 51 laps.

Michelin’s latest generation Formula E tyre also demonstrated the big step forward it has taken in terms of outright performance, too, since the Mahindra driver’s effort was a second-and-a-half quicker than the best lap around the calendar’s shortest circuit (1.785km) in 2017. It was also an improvement of three seconds over four years ago!

Two-time Monaco E-Prix victor Sébastien Buemi (Nissan e.dams/Michelin) ended up fifth, ahead of Antonio Felix da Costa (BMW I Andretti Motorsport/Michelin), Mitch Evans (Panasonic Jaguar Racing/Michelin) and Daniel Abt (Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler/Michelin).

Envision Virgin Racing/Michelin’s Sam Bird was poorly rewarded for an assertive fightback when he clouted a wall on the final lap. Lucas di Grassi (Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler/Michelin) and Robin Frijns (Envision Virgin Racing/Michelin) were also non-finishers.

The next race at Berlin’s former Tempelhof Airport in Germany on May 25 will be the last European round of the 2018/2019 campaign.

Monaco E-Prix – final positions:

1. Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Techeetah), 51 laps

2. Oliver Rowland (Nissan e.dams), +0.201s

3. Felipe Massa (Venturi Formula E Team), +1.261s

4. Pascal Wehrlein (Mahindra Racing), +1.439s

5. Sébastien Buemi (Nissan e.dams), +6.215s

6. Antonio Felix da Costa (BMW I Andretti Motorsport), +15.956s

7. Mitch Evans (Panasonic Jaguar Racing), +16.213s

8. Daniel Abt (Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler), +16.400s

9. André Lotterer (DS Techeetah), +16.848s

10. Alex Lynn (Panasonic Jaguar Racing), +18.112s

Etc.