Reigning champions DS Techeetah choke in the opening qualifying session of 2021 as Nyck De Vries secures pole by over half a second.
Formula E returned in 2021 for an opening round in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. In the middle of the desert, 23 drivers took to the streets to participate in a hotly contested qualifying session. After a crash in FP2, Frijns failed to make qualifying and will therefore start this evening’s race from the back of the grid.
Image Credit: @EnvisionVirgin Twitter
Going into the session, Mercedes looked like the team to beat with Dutchman Nyck De Vries topping the timing charts in both FP1 and FP2. The other Mercedes of Stoffel Vandoorne found themselves in group one for qualifying alongside championship contenders Jean-Eric Vergne and Antonio Felix Da Costa.
Qualifying Session
Despite cutting it close, all six drivers made it across the line in time to start their flying lap. Over the course of the lap, both Techeetah’s struggled to set a competitive time with Da Costa and Vergne 1.5 seconds behind the leading time set by Oliver Rowland. Rowland proved dominant in group one with a strong qualifying time which left him a margin of over half a second to Vandoorne.
Group two promised a closely fought battle with De Vries, Lotterer, Bird, Gunther and Evans all in contention. After a rapid series of laps, all 5 of the remaining group two drivers went ahead of group one leader Rowland with De Vries fastest overall.
Image Credit: @MercedesEQFE Twitter
From group three, four of the six drivers managed to make it into provisional superpole. Both Edoardo Montara and Pascal Wehrlein impressed the paddock but neither driver was able to displace dominant De Vries from P1.
The final group of the session contained three rookies, Jake Dennis, Nick Cassidy and Norman Nato. However, in a dramatic end to qualifying, Muller, Cassidy and Blomqvist all found themselves under investigation following a crash at the final corner of the track for Sergio Sette Camara.
Eventually, all three drivers had their qualifying times deleted after stewards determined that all three drivers had failed to lift for yellow flags. This decision promoted Mitch Evans and Alex Lynn to superpole.
SUPERPOLE
Nyck De Vries Mercedes EQ Formula E Team
Pascal Wehrlein Tag Heuer Porsche Formula E Team
Rene Rast Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler
Edoardo Mortara ROKIT Venturi Racing
Alex Lynn Mahindra Racing
Mitch Evans Jaguar Racing
Evans was the first to leave the garage to set his time for superpole. The Jaguar driver failed to replicate his earlier qualifying performance grazing the barriers and suffering a very slow third sector. This performance left the New Zealander sixth overall by the end of the session.
Despite a solid performance by Alex Lynn in the Mahindra and Mortara in the Venturi, the British and Swiss contenders found themselves unable to challenge the top three.
Image Credit: @VenturiFE Twitter
Rene Rast and Pascal Wehrlein both improved on Mortara’s time by over half a second, moving into the 1:08’s. However neither could challenge the final driver to set his superpole time Mercedes Nyck De Vries. De Vries set a storming lap, pushing the Dutch driver to the top of the timing charts, six tenths ahead of Wehrlein. This is the 2019 Formula 2 championships first pole position in Formula E.
Will Nyck De Vries be able to translate his maiden pole position into victory? Follow Overtake Motorsport for our coverage of this evening’s race.
Featured Image Credit: @MercedesEQFE Twitter
