2021 Valencia ePrix

The 2021 Valencia ePrix (formally the 2021 DHL Valencia E-Prix) was a pair of Formula E electric car races held at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in the town of Cheste near Valencia, Spain on 24 and 25 April 2021. Having previously hosted numerous pre-season tests, this was the inaugural running of a competitive Formula E event at the track, as well as the first time an ePrix was held in Spain. It marked the fifth and sixth rounds of the 2020–21 Formula E season. The first race was won by Nyck de Vries, with Nico Müller and Stoffel Vandoorne rounding out the podium. Jake Dennis took his first Formula E victory in the second race, finishing ahead of André Lotterer and Alex Lynn.

The first race on 24 April was notable for the significant number of disqualifications and non-finishers. Of the field of twenty-four, only nine drivers would end up being awarded points.

ePrix

Race one Conditions on the track were wet, requiring a safety car start instead of the traditional standing start. This would lead to the race's first of five energy reductions, with this being a reduction of 2 KWH.

Following the restart with 10 minutes left, Da Costa would use his Fan Boost to gain enough distance over De Vries to then activate his second attack mode while retaining the lead. With six minutes to go before the extra lap, Lotterer would end up beached in Turn 1 after a collision with Edoardo Mortara while Mortara was in attack mode. De Vries still in second had just been asked by his team to push to keep up with Da Costa in first, but was unable to do so before the safety car came out with five minutes left. The green flag would waive again with 22 seconds left in the session and Da Costa would cross the line with 9 seconds left before the extra lap. The fifth energy reduction would be announced, this time for another 5 KWH for a total reduction of 19 KWH. De Vries would easily drive past Da Costa as Da Costa was struggling with the remaining energy. De Vries would finish in first with Rowland and Sims behind him, though both of the latter would be disqualified for exceed the energy limits. Müller and Vandoorne would be elevated to second and third respectively. Da Costa, Lynn, and Bird would all join Rowland and Sims in exceeding the energy limits and be subsequently disqualified. This left only nine drivers total to be classified and received points for the finish.

Classification Race one Qualifying Group draw Group 1 BIR () EVA (2) FRI (3) VAN (4) DEV (5) WEH (6) Group 2 MOR (7) JEV (8) SIM (9) DAC (10) RAS (11) ROW (12) Group 3 SET (13) MUL (14) GUE (15) BUE (16) TUR (17) DIG (18) Group 4 BLO (19) LYN (20) CAS (21) NAT (22) DEN (23) LOT (24)

Driver Team 1 13 António Félix da Costa Techeetah-DS 1:26.870 1:26.522 1 2 17 Nyck de Vries Mercedes 1:26.914 1:26.730 7 3 28 Maximilian Günther Andretti-BMW 1:26.868 1:26.943 2 4 94 Alex Lynn Mahindra 1:26.799 1:27.022 3 5 23 Sébastien Buemi e.dams-Nissan 1:26.876 1:27.053 4 6 36 André Lotterer Porsche 1:26.933 5 7 71 Norman Nato Venturi-Mercedes 1:26.979 6 8 22 Oliver Rowland e.dams-Nissan 1:27.002 8 9 99 Pascal Wehrlein Porsche 1:27.008 9 10 37 Nick Cassidy Virgin-Audi 1:27.072 10 11 29 Alexander Sims Mahindra 1:27.109 11 12 25 Jean-Éric Vergne Techeetah-DS 1:27.157 12 13 27 Jake Dennis Andretti-BMW 1:27.177 13 14 33 René Rast Audi 1:27.290 14 15 4 Robin Frijns Virgin-Audi 1:27.317 15 16 48 Edoardo Mortara Venturi-Mercedes 1:27.338 16 17 20 Mitch Evans Jaguar 1:27.442 17 18 7 Sérgio Sette Câmara Dragon-Penske 1:27.456 18 19 88 Tom Blomqvist NIO 1:27.481 19 20 10 Sam Bird Jaguar 1:27.619 20 21 11 Lucas di Grassi Audi 1:27.634 21 22 6 Nico Müller Dragon-Penske 1:27.644 22 23 8 Oliver Turvey NIO 1:28.524 23 24 5 Stoffel Vandoorne Mercedes no time no time 24Source: Notes: – Nyck de Vries received a 5-place grid penalty for causing a collision in the previous race in Rome. – Stoffel Vandoorne originally qualified first with a 1:26.839 in the group stage and a 1:26.494 in the superpole, but later had all his lap times cancelled due to a tyre infringement.

Race Driver Team Time/Retired Points 1 17 Nyck de Vries Mercedes 24 48:20.547 7 25 2 6 Nico Müller Dragon-Penske 24 +13.128 22 18 3 5 Stoffel Vandoorne Mercedes 24 +34.886 24 15 4 37 Nick Cassidy Virgin-Audi 24 +36.903 10 12 5 33 René Rast Audi 24 +51.650 14 10 6 4 Robin Frijns Virgin-Audi 24 +52.985 15 8+1 7 11 Lucas di Grassi Audi 24 +2:41.946 21 6 8 27 Jake Dennis Andretti-BMW 24 +3:07.061 13 4 9 25 Jean-Éric Vergne Techeetah-DS 24 +4:19.582 12 2 NC 8 Oliver Turvey NIO 24 Retired in pits 23 NC 88 Tom Blomqvist NIO 24 Retired in pits 19 NC 71 Norman Nato Venturi-Mercedes 23 +1 lap 6 Ret 48 Edoardo Mortara Venturi-Mercedes 20 Collision damage 16 Ret 99 Pascal Wehrlein Porsche 19 Brakes 9 Ret 36 André Lotterer Porsche 19 Collision/Brakes 5 Ret 20 Mitch Evans Jaguar 15 Collision damage 17 Ret 7 Sérgio Sette Câmara Dragon-Penske 14 Collision 18 Ret 28 Maximilian Günther Andretti-BMW 10 Spun off 2 Ret 23 Sébastien Buemi e.dams-Nissan 1 Collision 4 DSQ 22 Oliver Rowland e.dams-Nissan 24 Energy usage 8 DSQ 29 Alexander Sims Mahindra 24 Energy usage 11 DSQ 13 António Félix da Costa Techeetah-DS 24 Energy usage 1 3 DSQ 94 Alex Lynn Mahindra 24 Energy usage 3 1 DSQ 10 Sam Bird Jaguar 24 Energy usage 20 Source: Notes: – Fastest lap. – Pole position. – Fastest in group stage. – Stoffel Vandoorne received a 5-second time penalty for forcing another car off the track, and a further post-race 10-second time penalty for failing to fulfil the total amount of time of his second attack mode. – Lucas di Grassi received a post-race drive-through penalty converted into a 30-second time penalty for failing to activate the second of the two mandatory attack modes. – Both NIO drivers pulled into the pit lane at the end of the final lap after exceeding the maximum energy usage. As they did not cross the chequered flag, they were not classified. – Rowland, Sims, da Costa, Lynn and Bird originally finished 2nd, 3rd, 9th, 10th and 11th respectively, but were disqualified from the race due to their energy used being over the regulatory limit.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 4 1 Nyck de Vries 57 2 2 Stoffel Vandoorne 48 2 3 Sam Bird 43 1 4 Robin Frijns 43 3 5 Mitch Evans 39

Teams' Championship standings +/– Constructor Points 1 1 Mercedes 105 1 2 Jaguar 82 1 3 Virgin-Audi 58 1 4 Techeetah-DS 51 3 5 Audi 43

Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

Race two Qualifying Group draw Group 1 DEV () VAN (2) BIR (3) FRI (4) EVA (5) WEH (6) Group 2 RAS (7) MUL (8) MOR (9) JEV (10) SIM (11) DAC (12) Group 3 CAS (13) ROW (14) SET (15) GUE (16) DIG (17) BUE (18) Group 4 TUR (19) BLO (20) LYN (21) DEN (22) NAT (23) LOT (24)

Driver Team 1 27 Jake Dennis Andretti-BMW 1:31.855 1:28.548 1 2 36 André Lotterer Porsche 1:31.958 1:29.411 5 3 94 Alex Lynn Mahindra 1:32.585 1:29.737 2 4 88 Tom Blomqvist NIO 1:32.727 1:30.202 3 5 8 Oliver Turvey NIO 1:32.950 1:30.403 4 6 71 Norman Nato Venturi-Mercedes 1:33.155 1:30.489 6 7 25 Jean-Éric Vergne Techeetah-DS 1:33.198 7 8 22 Oliver Rowland e.dams-Nissan 1:33.336 8 9 23 Sébastien Buemi e.dams-Nissan 1:33.390 9 10 7 Sérgio Sette Câmara Dragon-Penske 1:33.452 10 11 29 Alexander Sims Mahindra 1:33.479 11 12 13 António Félix da Costa Techeetah-DS 1:33.604 12 13 99 Pascal Wehrlein Porsche 1:33.745 13 14 33 René Rast Audi 1:33.879 14 15 48 Edoardo Mortara Venturi-Mercedes 1:33.898 15 16 20 Mitch Evans Jaguar 1:34.115 19 17 4 Robin Frijns Virgin-Audi 1:34.166 16 18 5 Stoffel Vandoorne Mercedes 1:34.416 17 19 17 Nyck de Vries Mercedes 1:34.419 18 20 10 Sam Bird Jaguar 1:34.480 20 21 6 Nico Müller Dragon-Penske 1:34.588 21 22 11 Lucas di Grassi Audi 1:34.610 22 23 37 Nick Cassidy Virgin-Audi 1:37.838 23 24 28 Maximilian Günther Andretti-BMW 1:41.980 24Source: Notes: – André Lotterer and Mitch Evans received a 3-place grid penalty each for causing a collision in race one.

Race Driver Team Time/Retired Points 1 27 Jake Dennis Andretti-BMW 30 46:32.002 1 25+3+1 2 36 André Lotterer Porsche 30 +1.483 5 18 3 94 Alex Lynn Mahindra 30 +2.428 2 15+1 4 22 Oliver Rowland e.dams-Nissan 30 +2.870 8 12 5 71 Norman Nato Venturi-Mercedes 30 +5.811 6 10 6 33 René Rast Audi 30 +8.122 14 8 7 25 Jean-Éric Vergne Techeetah-DS 30 +8.782 7 6 8 8 Oliver Turvey NIO 30 +11.292 4 4 9 48 Edoardo Mortara Venturi-Mercedes 30 +12.014 15 2 10 11 Lucas di Grassi Audi 30 +12.405 22 1 11 23 Sébastien Buemi e.dams-Nissan 30 +13.295 9 12 28 Maximilian Günther Andretti-BMW 30 +13.594 24 13 37 Nick Cassidy Virgin-Audi 30 +14.329 23 14 10 Sam Bird Jaguar 30 +15.151 20 15 20 Mitch Evans Jaguar 30 +17.213 19 16 17 Nyck de Vries Mercedes 30 +18.444 18 17 88 Tom Blomqvist NIO 30 +18.885 3 18 99 Pascal Wehrlein Porsche 30 +19.274 13 19 4 Robin Frijns Virgin-Audi 30 +19.756 16 20 6 Nico Müller Dragon-Penske 30 +21.069 21 21 7 Sérgio Sette Câmara Dragon-Penske 30 +32.079 10 22 13 António Félix da Costa Techeetah-DS 30 +59.698 12 23 29 Alexander Sims Mahindra 30 +1:04.277 11 Ret 5 Stoffel Vandoorne Mercedes 20 Collision damage 17 Source: Notes: – Pole position; fastest in group stage. – Fastest lap. – Norman Nato received a 5-second time penalty for causing a collision.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Nyck de Vries 57 2 Stoffel Vandoorne 48 3 Sam Bird 43 4 Robin Frijns 43 5 Mitch Evans 39

Teams' Championship standings +/– Constructor Points 1 Mercedes 105 2 Jaguar 82 3 Virgin-Audi 58 4 Techeetah-DS 57 5 Audi 52

Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

Controversy The ending of the first race caused controversy after roughly half of the field ran out of power at the end of the 50-mile distance, with five cars being disqualified and two retiring for this reason. Frédéric Bertrand, circuit championships director of the FIA, said after the race that the finish of the race "demonstrated how difficult it was to win in Formula E", yet conceded that it should "never happen again". His comments were blasted by da Costa, one of the drivers disqualified for energy use, who stated that Formula E would become the "joke of the week" following that finish. Despite this the FIA stood by its energy management rules and race winner Nyck de Vries said that Formula E is "not necessarily" at fault.

Notes

References

2021 Valencia ePrix

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