Antonio Felix Da Costa seems unstoppable in Berlin as he takes second win in two days. This is his third win for DS Techeetah in season 6.
Before Round 7 could get underway, we saw Rene Rast and Alexander Sims having to start from the pit lane. This was due to changes on their car which meant grid penalties for both. As the other 22 drivers lined up on the grid, we saw the lights go out and cars begin to fight.
The Mercedes driver of Nyck De Vries was very aggresive into turn 1 which meant he moved into 3rd place from Alex Lynn. The two of them continued to battle througout the lap, but in the end, the Dutchman lucked out. Another early mover was Maximilian Gunther who gained two places, moving to 8th from current champion, Jean-Eric Vergne and Sam Bird.
Putting pressure on the man in front, Sebastian Buemi was all over the back of Da Costa. We then saw some fighting spirit from Robin Frijns who passed Lynn to secure 4th place with 41 minutes and 35 seconds remaining. Attack Mode then became available shortly after and Sergio Sette Camara was the first to activate the power boost.
Unfortunately for the Mahindra driver, Lynn lost another place, this time to Lucas Di Grassi who moved up into 5th. Frijns also continued his fighting moves by overtaking De Vries for the final podium place. We then had our first incident as we saw Gunther falling down the time sheet, seeing he had damage to his front wing and a flat front left tyre. The BMW team boxed the German driver but later had to retire.
The damage sustained to Gunther’s car caused a Full Course Yellow with 34 minutes remaining to collect the debris. The Green Flag was eaved 30 seconds later which meant no energy reduction. On the restart Di Grassi managed to pass De Vries to gain 4th position.
Another car with front wing damage was Bird but, luckily, had no wheel damage so kept the car going. This caused a second Full Course Yellow to retrieve his front right wheel arch that had fallen off. Much like before, we saw the Green Flag 40 seconds later. Continuing on good form from yesterday, Stoffel Vandoorne began picking off the midfield one by one, moving up to 10th position.
Lynn’s race continued to take a bad turn as he was passed by Vandoorne and Vergne, dropping to 11th. The Belgian Mercedes driver then overtook Eduardo Mortara to move to 8th, gaining 5 places in the race. As one Mercedes driver thrived, the other was seen coming to a halt. De Vries who had started incredibly strong came to a stop, causing the third Full Course Yellow of the race.
2 minutes later and we got racing once again, which gave Buemi the chance to steal 1st place. After going wheel to wheel with Da Costa, the Swiss driver had to settle for 2nd. Reigning champion, Vergne, persisted to have a difficult double header as he got passed by Vandoorne and Mortara, falling down the order. We then saw Vandoorne pull off a sensational move by going round the outside of both Bird and Rowland to jump two places up to 5th.
Moving back to the top 3 runners, a fight began between Buemi and Di Grassi. The two drivers gave us some wheel to wheel action with Buemi coming out on top. Frijns then decided to join the battle but Di Grassi kept his place firm. This gave Da Costa an extremely comfortable lead, flying out in front.
Whilst holding the fastest lap of the race, Vandoorne kept his domination going by closing in on Frijns for 4th position. We then heard Vergne complaining to his DS Techeetah team that his rear tyres were gone. This caused the Frenchman to be overtaken by Mortara and his old teammate, Andre Lotterer with 3 minutes remanining.
The last lap of the race gave us extra excitement as we saw a train of Frijns, Di Grassi, Vandoorne and Bird. Each driver wanting to pass the other to fight for 3rd position. Frijns and Di Grassi went side by side but the Envision Virgin racing driver had to settle for 4th. Vandoorne even activated his Fanboost at the last minute to bring the fight to Frijns but also lost out. Vandoorne and Frijns even had slight contact but both drivers kept it clean.
Another heartache saw Felipe Massa lose energy and fall to 0% before the chequered flag. Unlike yesterday, Massa was the only car to lose energy. Despite a few scares from Buemi behind him, Da Costa still sailed round and dominated the race. The Portuguese acheives his second win in two days and a third win in a row. Buemi earns 2nd place with Di Grassi claiming 3rd, his first podium since round 2.
During the post-race interview, Da Costa spoke to commentator Nicki Sheilds who said “this was really hard for me. Seb, he kept me honest”, talking about Buemi getting extremely close. Da Costa may be on a winning streak but the DS Techeetah driver takes nothing for granted. “I know how hard they are to get and so I’m happy they’re coming to me right now”.
Round 8 of Formula E is on Saturday 8th August with Round 9 taking place on Sunday for the seasons second double header. This is still being taken place at Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport but with the grid not in reverse. Make sure you check back with Overtake Motorsport during the weekend for the latest news and results.
Feature Image Credit: The Race Official Twitter Page
